


T.S.A

by yeojasamho



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Multi, Possible Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-11 07:40:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 51,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1170441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeojasamho/pseuds/yeojasamho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things that go bump in the night, and they are the ones that bump back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Characters: EXO/OCs (it will be revealed later on who the main members will be)  
> Rating: PG-13  
> Genre: Fantasy/Action/Adventure/Friendship with possible romance
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own EXO ( I wish I do but I don't), just the OCs and the world this will be in. If there are fics that have a similar plot as this one, it is purely coincidental. 
> 
>  
> 
> A/N: AND HURRAH. I know. I hate myself for starting on another story but this one.. is one I have been working on for months. I'm pretty nervous and excited about this because I don't know how this will turn out, and I don't know how this will go in the future. The title is a little vague, yes. But it will be revealed later on what it stands for. The summary for this gives it away too so I just really wanted it to be a surprise. 
> 
> Thank you to my beta Sonia (alloxan on LJ) since she has been helping me for the latter part. 
> 
> So read and enjoy.

Ilsan, South Korea. May 08, 2013. 8:24 PM 

A man looked through the images of three girls in his computer. "Interesting" he said quietly, scrolling down to read their bio data and records. His hand started to travel to a set of buttons near the telephone, pressing the first one. The door opened and a younger man in a suit came inside. 

"Yes, father?" he asked. "The files of the boys, please bring them here. I want to check something" the man behind the desk said. 

The younger obeyed and left the room, coming back moments later with a small black flash disk. Sliding it across the table, he looked at the older with curiosity despite the fact that his face was hidden in the dark, and the computer didn't light up enough for his face to be shown. The man looked through the images and information of twelve boys, each one rather attractive and handsome and looked like they were in their later teens and early twenties. 

"I'm sure the boys will look forward to these girls. A little more variety in this center, right?" he said, nodding as he scrolled through, comparing the profiles of the boys with the profiles of the girls. 

"Father, may I ask what this is all about?" he asked. "Ino, I think we've found more" the man in the dark said in amazement. 

Ino just stood in his place with a confused look on his face. "There's more of them, Ino. Three more. Do what you can to bring them here immediately, I don't think they know what they're capable of" he added. 

"But how would we bring them here? It's not like they know we exist" Ino suddenly said, after realizing what the man behind the desk meant. 

Even in the dark, Ino could tell he was smiling.


	2. An Invitation

_-_

_Hey! I can’t answer the phone right now, but please leave the message after the beep._

_Beep!_

  
_Hello miss,_   
_My name is Ino Jang, I’m calling you because I am inviting you to come and stay over at the Ilsan Youth Hostel. I was going to invite you personally but it seems that no one is home so I have slipped my business card with the address of the place under your doorstep. I hope you will consider staying with us. Thank you!_

_-_

 

A cab stopped in front of a building with two black gates. "Here we are, Miss. The address you showed me" the driver said to the girl, who looked at the business card she was holding.

Mr. Ino Jang  
Ilsan Youth Hostel  
CPR: Section 104, 1080 Janhang-dong District, Ilsan  
"In Tempore Tribulationis, Omnes Simul Stant"

Lee Mirae handed over a few bills and stepped out of the cab, pulling her bags out of the car and approached the gates of a tall, gray building surrounded by rows of trees. She noticed another gate a few meters away from this one and pressed a button on the callbox.

"Ilsan Youth Hostel, what is it?"

Mirae cleared her throat to speak, looking around with reluctance. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uh, I'm Lee Mirae. I got a card from a Mr. Ino Jang, he called my apartment and told me to come here" she said, glancing at the card again.

In an instant, the rows of buttons flipped over to reveal a screen and what looked like an eyepiece, extending itself towards her. "Look inside" the voice said.

Mirae did as she was told, looking right into it. The sudden flashes of light made her step back and blink, and she heard a whirring sound coming from it. Looking at the screen, it showed a picture of her, as well as her personal information. "Come in"

Her brows furrowed in bewilderment, and the gates slowly opened. She walked towards the second gate and like before, she pressed a button. The rows of buttons flipped over once again and revealed a screen with a grid. "Handprint please" the voice said, and Mirae pressed her hand upon it.

She watched blue lights appear and beep under each of her fingertips. The callbox itself flipped over, revealing another screen that showed her picture and her information like before. The gates opened and she walked inside.

The building looked a little dull for a Youth Hostel, but it was very well-maintained from how clean the paths and the driveways were. The shrubs and plants were trimmed and the grass was cut. The name of the place was engraved on a gold plate above the threshold, and the initials as she saw in the card, CPR were under it. Looking back at the gates, there were armed security guards stationed on each side of them. Suited men with earpieces stood by the main doors and Mirae walked inside.

Her jaw dropped when she saw how big the place was on the inside compared to how it looked on the outside. It still looked very bare as all she could see were marble walls and flooring, with spotlights on every other tile at the sides leading up to the end. Spotting a lady in a security uniform standing behind the counter, Mirae rushed towards her, skidding to a halt when the lady pointed to the marble tile with the Hostel's insignia.

"Stand on that, please" she said.

"E-excuse me? I'm-" Mirae said nervously as she put her bags down. "Lee Mirae, I know. I see you came" she said.

Mirae took a deep breath and nodded. "Y-yes I did, I'm looking for-" "Section 104, yes I know" she nodded.

"Please watch your hands and elbows, you will be brought down there shortly" she added, and Mirae looked even more confused.

The tile she was standing on slowly lowered itself, and Mirae tried not to panic.

In fact, Mirae didn't know why she came. Earlier that day, she received a call from the man who dropped off a business card a few days before. She wondered why she was invited to stay, and yet she found herself packing. She didn't know why she had accepted the offer. Did she owe anyone money? Did she get herself into something she wasn't supposed to? She didn't know.

She soon found herself standing in front of a young man in a suit. He had an earpiece and he had an ID badge clipped to his front pocket. "Ah! Lee Mirae" he said. Mirae slowly nodded and carried her bags with her as she stepped off the platform, looking back to see metal gears fasten themselves on the tile she stood on. "Oh! Let me help you with these" he said, carrying one of her bigger bags.

"Am I late?" she asked, looking around. The halls were as bare as the surface, but from where she stood, she could see huge glass windows and doors on one side. She figured there were conference rooms of some sort. Groups of suited men wearing the same earpiece as the man helping her with her bags were walking down another hallway filled with the same kind of rooms.

"No, no, actually I think you're the first one to arrive" he smiled as he motioned for two men to walk up to them. "Please bring her bags to her room?" he asked. The men nodded and Mirae handed over her other bag. The man in front of her held out his hand. "I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Ino Jang, I'm the one you spoke to on the phone earlier today?" he said. Mirae nodded. "Oh! Oh! I was thinking you sounded familiar" she said.

Ino chuckled. "Please, just call me Ino from now on. I figured from seeing your bags that you have agreed to join us here in the Center, so no need for formalities" he said. "But I'll give you a hint, I'm your oppa, I'm an 88'er, but really, no need to do that" he added.

Ino started to walk down a hallway and Mirae instantly followed, catching up to him while glancing at her surroundings. This particular hallway looked different, the walls were of a darker color, and the floor was carpeted. Mirae still didn't understand what kind of place she was going to stay in from now on. But she was amused at the fact that Ino was very friendly and welcoming. Like people who receive guests should, she thought.

They stopped once they heard footsteps approaching and Ino looked back, making Mirae look back as well. A girl with blonde hair that was tied in a high ponytail and wearing chunky rings on her fingers was walking up to them, looking just as confused. She bowed at once and looked at Mirae. Her name was Nam Hyejung.

"Nam Hyejung, this is Lee Mirae" Ino gestured to her. Hyejung bowed and smiled at her while Mirae just waved. "Just in time, it seems" Ino said.

Hyejung raised a brow and looked back at the hallway. "Is it just us?" she asked. She sounded so confident that it made Mirae step back a little in surprise. "No, there's another one coming" Ino replied.

A girl with short jet-black hair and a tan soon arrived, hesitantly walking towards them after a man gestured to go up to them. She was Song Jinri.

Ino smiled and clasped his hands together. "Song Jinri, this is Nam Hyejung and Lee Mirae, your fellow newbies around here" he said. Jinri quietly bowed and Mirae looked down while Hyejung gave a nod. "Well, since the three of you are on time, kindly follow me" he gestured to the hallway on the right that had the same coloring as the hallway they were walking down in. Hyejung, Mirae, and Jinri looked at each other and exchanged looks of confusion and nervousness as they followed him. "Ino-ssi, may we ask what is this place really? It's not a hostel, is it?" Hyejung asked.

"You may call me Ino from now on, since you will be staying and working with us. Ino oppa if you want, I'm three to four years older than you girls" he glanced at them and just smiled as he stopped in front of giant wooden doors with golden handles and knobs.

"I think the Professor will explain this to you better" he said as he opened them and motioned them to go inside. "But it's really a good thing that all of you are here and on time. The Professor will be pleased to see this" he smiled. "The last time, we had to pick them up in clusters, and four of them were from China" he said with a sigh, making the girls look at him with curious faces.

"Th-there are more?" Jinri asked nervously. "Oh yes, twelve of them to be exact, but you'll meet them soon enough, maybe later on today" Ino smiled again.

The room before them was an entire library, with red chaise lounge chairs and couches that matched the red carpeted floor. Classical music was playing on a sound system that was blasting through the speakers in the entire building. The walls had built-in shelves full of books. Globes and maps filled the spaces in between and some were rolled up and placed in tubes on the walls by the doors. The fireplace was in between the two speakers, and an older man stood in front of it, his back turned and holding a cane.

The three of them slowly walked inside, looking at each other and wondering who would speak up first until Hyejung cleared her throat.

"Uh, h-hello?" she said, making the man turn around. "W-we're one of-" "I know" he smiled, walking up to them. "I picked the three of you especially to welcome you here. I am Professor Inhwan Jang" he added with a smile.

"Uh, Professor Jang?" Mirae asked. "Yes, Professor. I am one" he said. He studied their faces carefully, quietly wondering how would they react to the things he was about to tell them.

He smiled. "You saw the initials CPR engraved on the sign of this Hostel, and as you entered, you saw the same thing, right?" he asked. The three of them nodded.

"Well, CPR stands for the Center of Paranormal Research" Professor Jang said.

The whole room fell silent as the girls' faces were mixtures of surprise and confusion. Jinri instantly looked down and Mirae swallowed a lump in her throat while Hyejung took a deep breath. "Follow me" he said, motioning them to leave the room and leading them down another similar looking hall, this time it had black and white photographs of soldiers and men in suits and lab coats on the walls.

"This organization was formed in 1946, right after the second World War, by a group of soldiers, scientists, and enthusiasts of the supernatural. They believed that there was more to life out there, in a physical sense, that there are people who could do so much more than ordinary man, or civilizations under the earth or above it" Professor Jang said as they walked, stopping at a large framed painting for a bowl of fruit. The three girls watched him type in a passcode and the wall of the painting opened up at once. "Well, this had a hand scanner, but we'll get Junhong to code your palm prints to this, but we can save that for later, you will all meet them soon enough" he looked back at the girls.

In front of them was an extension of the hallway, with steel walls and glass windows and doors of the rooms on one side. "So, moving on," he walked in and they followed. "Wow, this looks like the kind of thing we'd see in the movies or something" Mirae suddenly spoke up as they looked around.

Professor Jang nodded and smiled as they walked on, stopping in front of a room at the end of the hallway with two giant doors. "Well, you'd be surprised" he said, opening part of it to reveal a large room with red lounge chairs and a blue couch surrounding a fireplace at the end. A part of the room had shelves full of snacks and drinks and another part had a giant flat screen television with different game consoles and video players under it. The girls looked at the room in awe as Professor Jang led them inside and motioned for them to sit on the chairs and the carpeted floor.

"For a long time, we've been trying to find proof of individuals with superhuman abilities," he looked around and back at them. Jinri clasped her hands together. "And just last year in April, we found them" he smiled. "This center serves as a refuge to those individuals too, as you can see with this room. And now it's your refuge too" he said.

The three girls exchanged looks. "Uh, Ino mentioned something about four of them being found in China" Mirae suddenly said. Professor Jang nodded. "Well, three actually. One of them was found in Vancouver, Canada but his records say he was born in Guangzhou" he corrected her.

Professor Jang walked up to a callbox and pressed a button. "Ino, please bring in the boys" he said. "Introductions should be made now that the girls are here" and the mere gesture made the girls exchange looks with one another.

 


	3. Introductions

 

The girls sat still, looking around the room and taking note of every detail. All of a sudden, the door opened and a boy with dark hair, a prominent jawline, with tanned skin stepped inside, glancing at them and at Professor Jang. "Ah, here's one of them now" he smiled.

"This is Kim Jongin, also known as Kai" and the boy with the said name raised his hand and waved, a small smile on his lips. Professor Jang smiled. "Kai here is a teleporter" he said, and the girls looked at him with impressed faces. Kai suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke, then reappeared next to Jinri then disappeared again and reappeared next to Professor Jang.

The door opened again, and another boy came in, looking lost. "Professor? You were looking for us?" he said. Professor Jang smiled and nodded as he gestured for him to come in. The boy walked up to stand next to Kai, and smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Girls, this is Luhan. He's from Beijing" he said. The boy also raised his hand and without a word, a lock of Mirae's hair was suddenly lifted up, as if an invisible hand was holding it. Luhan smiled and the lock of hair went down again. "He's telekinetic. But we've recently found out that he can also be telepathic, although he hasn't mastered that ability just yet" Professor Jang smiled.

"Where are the others?" Professor Jang turned to the two boys. "Oh, Zitao must still be in the training room" Luhan replied. "Jongdae and Sehun are probably still out. They decided to get some street food" Kai said. "What about the rest?" Professor Jang asked. Kai and Luhan looked at each other then shook their heads. "We don't know, they must still be around here. They don't go out that much since our newest lesson" Luhan said. Professor Jang glanced at the girls and gestured to the boys. "Okay, boys, this is Lee Mirae, Nam Hyejung, and Song Jinri. They will be with us from now on" he smiled. "It's very nice to meet you girls" Luhan smiled and gave a nervous wave.

The door opened again and another boy stepped in. "This is Zhang Yixing, from Changsha in China also known as Lay" Professor Jang said. The said boy smiled and bowed, a dimple creasing on his cheek. "Lay here can heal people. Wounds, bruises, you name it. Watch this" Professor Jang suddenly took out a small blade and cut his finger, drops of blood were instantly falling to the floor. Lay put his hand over it and the cut healed up at once. No scars were visible, and it was as if it had never been cut in the first place. Lay glanced at Mirae, who quietly mouthed "Wow" in her place and smiled, his dimple creasing once again. "Minseok and Kyungsoo will be here in a moment. They came from the cafeteria" Lay suddenly said.

Two boys suddenly came in, one was very fair with a small face and cat-like eyes, while the other one who was slightly taller had wide eyes and heart shaped lips that were emphasized as he smiled. "We're here, Professor!" the shorter one said, both boys skidding to a stop and stood next to Lay. Professor Jang smiled and clapped his hands. "Ah, well, this is Kim Minseok, also known as Xiumin," the shorter one waved "And this is Do Kyungsoo, he's called D.O" he said, and the slightly taller one waved as well. "We call Minseokkie here Jack Frost" Luhan chuckled. "Why Jack Frost?" Jinri asked with her brow raised. Xiumin just smiled and covered his mouth with his hands. He blew into his hand and he suddenly held up a ball of ice. "Oh, Frost" Mirae said quietly, impressed.

D.O stepped forward and glanced at Professor Jang, a little hesitant. Professor Jang gave a nod. "Don't worry, Kyungsoo. We'll have it fixed in no time" he smiled. D.O took a deep breath and walked towards the steel bar stool. And with a pound of his fist, the stool split in half. Looking down, D.O went back to his place next to Xiumin. "His strength knows no bounds. That's pretty much one of the stools with the sturdiest material" Professor Jang said. "We still have yet to see if he can really break something of higher quality, we'll leave Junhong to that though" he added.

"Professor, Baekhyun's just gone out. I don't think Ino got to him yet" Luhan suddenly said. Professor Jang nodded. "Ah well, I guess maybe we could request Junmyeon to be here? But I'll leave it to the rest of you to introduce these girls to the others" he said. "Yes, professor" they answered in unison. "Good, I must leave now, lots to do. Welcome to the center, girls. Make yourselves at home" Professor Jang smiled at the girls and left the room.

They watched him leave, hobbling a little bit while Ino stood by him and the doors slowly closing behind them. “Where’s Junmyeon hyung?” Kai looked at the four other boys, smiling when he glanced at the girls. “He’s usually the one responsible for the warm welcome around here. Did he accidentally flood his room again?” Xiumin glanced at the door. “Maybe. He might be busy trying to clean up” Lay shrugged. The girls just watched them, glancing at the door again as well. “Okay, then let’s just welcome them ourselves, alright? Junmyeon can probably catch up later, he’ll know where we went off to, also Yifan” Luhan looked at them again, then smiled at the girls.

“So, like the Professor said, welcome to the Center. Did.. Ino say this was a Hostel when he gave you the address of this place?” Luhan asked. “Yeah, pretty much. He called us up, then left a message to probably double-check and then slipped his business card under my apartment door” Hyejung answered while Mirae and Jinri nodded. “Yeah, we got the same thing when we came here too. Doesn’t look much for a Hostel up there, right?” Xiumin chuckled. The girls shook their heads. “But it looks decent, not really suspicious” Jinri shrugged.

Somewhere under the city, in one of the abandoned sewers and tunnels near the subway lines, a goblin statue stood in the middle. It began to crack, until it shattered into pieces, and the creature stood up. He had green skin, dark eyes, and sharp teeth. He wore all black with golden cuffs with a golden crown on his head and held a black steel staff in his hand. He spun the staff in his hand above his head and a spear point came out of both ends. Running towards the wall he flipped over and landed on his feet.

The creature looked at his gold cuffs, and back to his surroundings and said in a low voice into the air. “I am Prince Zeenohai, son of King Tauile, next in line for the throne of the Goblin Kingdom. I have come back”


	4. Settling In

“Follow me, girls” a suited man with an earpiece and an ID badge on his jacket pocket said to the girls. The three of them followed, looking back at the boys, who were waving at them while walking off in another direction. 

The man looked back at them and smiled. “I’m Go Hyesung, head of security in this place. I’ll be with you girls every step of the way in case the Professor asks you to go with him somewhere” he said. 

“Somewhere? Do we get to go out anyway?” Hyejung asked. “Of course. This Center’s your new home, and you have as much freedom. The boys just prefer to stay in, there’s a lot of stuff you can do here already” Hyesung answered. They stopped in front of the tile that led them down and one by one, the three of them stood on it altogether, and Hyesung followed, pressing a button on the side. 

Jinri looked at the two other girls before tapping Hyesung’s shoulder. “So, where are we going now, exactly?” she asked. “We’ll show you to your rooms, so the three of you can get settled. The Professor wants you to get comfortable right away and make yourselves at home, like he said” Hyesung nodded. 

Hyesung looked intimidating when he said nothing and didn’t smile, which they thought worked to his advantage when something would happen. The tile they were standing on lowered itself and landed down to another similar looking floor. Only this time, the halls were bigger and the floors were carpeted. 

“Your rooms are down the hall in the middle, you should find your names on the three doors” they stepped off once the tile was steady. “I will come back to hand over your ID badges as well as some other things for security purposes. If you need anything, just ask me or the boys, or Ino” he said.

The girls rooms hallway was next to the boys. The walls are painted white with tables and paintings in between. It looked like it was part of a more formal place in contrast to the dark steel, marble and cemented walls of the rest of the Center. The floor was carpeted, and the doors were black with gold plaques where the girls names were engraved. Jinri walked down the hall, stopping in front of the door that had her name on it. She looked around, her brows furrowing as she waited for the two other girls. With a sigh, she opened the door. 

The walls of her room were of a steel gray color, the floor carpeted like the rest, with a desk, a bookshelf, shoe rack, coat hanger, dresser, and a chest of drawers. The bed was king size, with a fluffy comforter and a few pillows. Her bags were by the coat hanger, seemingly empty as some of her belongings were neatly placed on the desk, shoe racks and the dresser. 

“Knock, knock?” a boy peeked inside, making Jinri turn around. “Yes?” she asked. “You’re one of the new recruits, right?” he said. Jinri took a few steps forward and nodded. The boy took a few steps inside and held out his hand. “Hello, hello, welcome to the Center. I’m Kim Junmyeon” he smiled. “I’m Song Jinri” Jinri shook it. “The guys earlier said you flooded your room or something, that’s probably why you, uh, didn’t make it” she smiled. 

“Ah, they tend to exaggerate. I just ended up with a few puddles here and there. I still have to practice controlling it” he laughed. 

Junmyeon looked around her room, his smile softening while Jinri watched him. “They fixed your stuff for you, huh?” he turned back to her. “Y-yeah, I was surprised” she nodded. Junmyeon’s smile widened again. 

“Did Ino happen to give you girls a tour of the place already?” he asked. 

Jinri shook her head. “Not yet, but I was about to wander around the place when I finished settling in, but it seems like that’s all I need to do for now” she chuckled. Junmyeon nodded and held out his arm. “I know the guys might or will tease me to no end for this but a newbie like you should be shown around” he said with a smile. Jinri only nodded and linked her arm with his. 

“Well then, Song Jinri, shall I give you a tour?” he asked, trying not to laugh. Jinri laughed and nodded as they started to walk down the hall. 

“So, what exactly do you guys do around here?” Hyejung said as the tile lowered itself down to another similar looking floor. The rooms in which she could see, looked different on the inside this time. 

Jongin just smiled as he watched her while they walked. “We live here, we learn things about ourselves here too” he said. 

A tall boy in glasses and a lab coat suddenly walked past them, and Hyejung’s eyes followed him. “Who’s he? Another recruit?” she asked. “That’s Junhong. He works in this floor” Jongin followed her gaze. “Really? He seems a little young to be working, don’t you think?” she asked. 

Jongin nodded. “Yeah he is. He’s pretty much the youngest person in here. But the Professor got him and took him in here because he’s kind of a boy genius. He likes to invent things” he turned back to her. Hyejung nodded. 

They walked down the hallway on the left and saw a room full of museum pieces in glass cases. “The Professor likes to collect stuff too, huh?” she stopped in front of the room to look. “Well, kind of” Jongin stood next to her. “But these were things that the old founders had acquired. It took a bit of snooping for me to find some of these out. We’re not really allowed in there” he chuckled. 

Hyejung smiled. “You’re a teleporter, aren’t you? I can’t see why you couldn’t look these things up when you can just poof in and out of that room in a matter of seconds” she glanced at him. 

Jongin laughed and shook his head. “I could get caught anyway. Luhan hyung has that power to divert the security cameras but Junhong made a way to prevent that, so no go” he gestured her to continue walking down the hall, turning a corner to see another hallway with only four steel doors. 

Hyejung instantly turned to Jongin and Jongin smiled. “These are Kyungsoo hyung, Tao hyung, Yixing hyung and Luhan hyung’s training rooms” he said. “You guys have your own training rooms?” she raised a brow. “Mhmm. For our different powers. Think about it, if we all shared one big training room, there would be scorch marks on the walls, puddles of water, ice on another part of the wall or ceiling, it would be a mess” Jongin laughed at the thought. 

One door opened and a guy in a labcoat stepped out, with dark hair and scorch marks on his coat. “Jongin, I just checked on how Zitao and Chanyeol were doing and Chanyeol’s done it again. I’ll just go clean up. Hello!” he said, smiling as he glanced at Hyejung then walked off. 

Hyejung turned to Jongin. “Who’s he?” she asked. “Oh, that’s Yongguk hyung. He’s one of the supervisors in the Center. They help us train our powers and everything” he answered. “Do they have powers too?” she asked. 

Jongin shook his head. “No, they’re part of Junhong’s group of scientists. The Professor took them in as well. They just supervise us, kind of like life coaches, only with our powers. They guide us and tell us what we could do to control it” he chuckled. 

“Come on” he said as he opened the door. The room was huge and had brick walls that were painted black. Fluorescent lights lit up the place and a giant clock was on one part of the room. A tall boy stood in the middle, with dirty blonde hair and dark circles under his eyes. His toned arms were glistening with sweat under the light as he picked up a long stick off the floor and spun it over his head, bending a little to do a little flip then spun the stick over his head again. 

He stopped when he noticed Jongin and Hyejung by the door and chuckled. “Oh! Hello!” he said, bowing slightly. 

“H-hi” Hyejung waved and bowed back. “Oh! Nam Hyejung, this is Huang Zitao, another Chinese recruit” Jongin said. 

“You-you can call me Tao, it’s nice to meet you” he walked up to them and held out his hand. Hyejung shook it and smiled. “Hyejung here is one of the newbies. You know, what the Professor said?” Jongin turned to him. 

Tao instantly nodded. “I’m sorry, when Ino called us, I was caught up on my training” he said. 

“Oh, no it’s alright. I was honestly not expecting any introductions from you guys this fast” Hyejung shook her head and laughed. “Tao’s a time controller” Jongin suddenly said. 

“Wow, that’s really cool” she said. “Want to see?” Tao grinned and gestured them to go to the middle. Jongin followed her and stood behind her. “Do you see that clock there?” He pointed to it. The two of them nodded. “Just watch” 

With a wave of his hand, the clock hands went back and they heard the door open, seeing Yongguk come in, walking backwards with his burned coat and messy hair. He didn’t seem to notice Hyejung and Jongin as he went up to the clock and fixed the dial. 

Tao waved his hand again and Yongguk went back out. Hyejung looked up at him. “That is really cool” she said. “Time is a powerful thing to mess with. The Professor told me that” he said. Tao glanced at the stick he was holding and turned to them. “Watch this” he said. He threw the stick up in the air and with a wave of his hand, the stick was suspended in mid air and the fast hand of the clock stopped moving. 

Hyejung turned to Kai, who just smiled. “I can stop time for as long as I’d like. Which isn’t long because it gets boring after a few seconds” Tao said. With another wave of his hand, the stick dropped to the floor and they could hear the clock ticking again. “And no one really wants time to stand still for too long, right?” he picked the stick up and placed it on the side of the room. 

Mirae walked out of her room and towards another hallway, her earphones on and humming to herself. The walls of the hall were painted a dull grey with impressionist paintings and small side tables. The floor was carpeted red, like the others. Suited men with earpieces were pacing back and forth at the entrances and exits of the floor. 

There were huge brown doors at the end of the hall, with golden handles, similar to the kind of door that led to the library. Mirae quietly pushed one open and her eyes widened slightly at the sight of the room she was in, the cafeteria. 

It was just as big, the walls were a steel grey, and the tables were of polished wood and in varied sizes. There were four long tables surrounding them. A main course area, a salad bar, dessert table, as well as drinks. As espresso machine was at the end of the drinks table, complete with the kinds of cups and glasses that were used. 

To her, it was more than what she imagined the cafeteria would look like. The smell of roast chicken, hot dessert pies, and coffee filled the room. Soups were in big pots, and some ladies and men in chef uniforms were coming out of two doors on both sides at the end of the room. It was like a school cafeteria, only even better and she would be eating here for as long as she stayed, possibly for a very long time.

She saw a boy seated in one of the solo tables, his hair a light brown at the top, but the sides as well as the back were jet black. He was taking bites out of a big sandwich. Mirae took a deep breath and made small steps towards the drinks table, taking a glass and placing it under the ice dispenser and under the coke machine. She looked back to see the boy sipping on the same drink she was getting, and she pulled her glass out just before it overflowed. 

She had thought of just wandering around, the music providing her with a sense of company. Apart from the boys that introduced themselves earlier, she hadn’t introduced herself to anyone else that she saw. She casually looked back at the boy, only to find him gone. 

“Hello” 

Mirae turned back to see the same boy standing in front of her, holding his glass of soda. Taking off her earphones, she sat back. “H-hi” she said. 

“You must be the new recruit to this Center. Hello, I’m Oh Sehun” he held out his hand. Mirae shook it. Sehun smiled. “And your name is?” he asked. “Oh, oh sorry, I’m Lee Mirae” she said. 

"It's nice to meet you, Lee Mirae" he said quietly. “Is this seat taken?” he gently pulled out the chair in front of her. She shook her head and Sehun sat down. “So I’m guessing Ino called you up and left you a message?” he asked. 

“Yeah, he even left a card on my door too” Mirae leaned in to sip from her drink and Sehun did the same. Sehun was handsome, she thought. Lanky for his height, but handsome still, with very fair and clear skin. His voice was soft, which probably meant he wasn’t used to talking so much. "He” did that to everyone" he said. 

"What can you do?" She asked, drumming her fingers on the table. Sehun raised a hand and spun circles with his finger until a small tornado formed from his fingertip. Mirae was impressed. "Wind. I'm anemokinetic" he said, closing his fist and the tornado vanished. “What about you? What can you do?” he asked. Mirae shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess I’ll find that out while I’m here” she said quietly. Sehun smiled. “You’ll be in good hands, that much I know” he said. 

The cafeteria doors opened and in came another tall boy, with jet black hair and wide eyes. There were scorch marks on his jeans and the bracelet he had on had a light orange glow that disappeared as he walked. Sehun and Mirae watched him grab a plate, and he suddenly scooped a huge amount of mashed potatoes on it. “That’s Chanyeol hyung” Sehun pointed out. The boy with the said name placed a few pizza slices on top of the mashed potatoes as well. “He’s pyrokinetic” he added. 

Mirae nodded and turned back to Sehun. “So, if you mean pyro, you mean he controls fire or something?” she asked. “Mhmm, his bracelet is actually metal” he nodded. “Wow, that’s really,” she glanced at Chanyeol again. “Powerful” she said. “But you guys are powerful in your own way” she smiled. “Ah, but mine is the best” he grinned, making her laugh. 

“Hey Sehunnie, if you’re going to have dates here, you can do better than that” Chanyeol said as he occupied the table next to them, his plate of food even bigger. “Hyung, this isn’t a date. She’s one of the new recruits” she said. 

Chanyeol’s eyes widened and he stood up to hold his hand out. “Oh! Sorry about that, I’m Chanyeol, Park Chanyeol” he said, and Mirae shook it. “Yes, Sehun told me about you when you came in” she smiled. “I’m Mirae” 

“Oh, so this was what Ino wanted us to assemble for?” Chanyeol turned to Sehun, who nodded. “Oh right then, welcome to CPR” he smiled at Mirae. “Looks like you’ll be living with us from now on, don’t worry, you’re in good hands” Chanyeol nodded and sat down again. 

“Is it just you?” he asked. Mirae shook her head. “No, there are three of us, the other two are probably still in their rooms” she took a sip of her drink. “Girls too?” Chanyeol said while taking big bites out of his slice of pizza. 

Mirae nodded. Chanyeol and Sehun looked at each other and grinned. “Good. I was beginning to get sick of these guys” he joked. Sehun just smiled at her and sipped on his drink. 

The three of them walked out, stopping when they saw Minseok and Luhan. “Oh! Good for you two to meet her” Luhan smiled at Mirae and glanced at Chanyeol and Sehun. “Yeah, where are you two headed?” Chanyeol asked. 

“Himchan asked me to come and help Minseok train” Luhan said. “Yeah, I need some help” Minseok nodded. “Himchan hyung? Tell him to bundle up, you too, hyung” Sehun said to Luhan. 

Luhan nodded. “I will” he said. “So, where are you three going?” he asked. Chanyeol and Sehun looked at Mirae, then back at them. “We thought we’d show her around, introduce her to the other guys who haven’t met her yet” Chanyeol wrapped an arm around her. 

Mirae froze at the sudden body contact and smiled at the two boys in front of her. “Don’t worry, Chanyeol’s really like that” Minseok smiled at her. Chanyeol grinned sheepishly and squeezed her shoulder, waving at the two as they walked off. 

A man in a labcoat stood next to Luhan, holding a clipboard. “Okay Minseok, ready?” he said. Minseok nodded and eyed the table full of plates at the end of the room. “Himchan, hurry up and start, I’m freezing” Luhan rubbed his palms together and covered himself up with another coat from the coat rack near the door. “Alright, alright, will you be able to use your power with this cold, though?” he asked, taking out a pen from the front pocket of his lab coat and scribbled something on the paper he had on the clipboard. “And how are you not cold? It’s like a freezer in here” Luhan turned to him, shivering in his place. “Junhong made me a sweater that’s equal to six warm sweaters” Himchan answered while writing. “I’m going to need that if I have to be in here a lot” Luhan turned back to Minseok, who was only wearing a loose shirt with jeans and his sneakers. “Minseok, when Luhan fires the plates at you, make sure to hit them all” Himchan said. 

The plates started flying towards him in rapid succession, and Minseok was caught-off guard, instantly raising his hands up as to shield himself and the plates suddenly went back to the remaining stacks on the table in front of Luhan. 

“I thought you were ready” Luhan said shakily, covering himself up some more. “I was, but I didn’t think it was that fast” Minseok said. “Himchan, can’t I borrow what you’re wearing? I’m cold” Luhan whined. 

Himchan looked up from his clipboard and shook his head. “Nope” he looked down at his notes and wrote some more. “Okay, Luhan you can probably go if you’re turning into a popsicle, I’ll take it from here” he said. 

Luhan dashed towards the coat rack to pull the coat off himself and without another word, he left the room, trying to look through the foggy windows. From behind the door, he could hear Minseok call out. “Yeah I’ll see you later, Luhan”


	5. Tour and Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so sorry for the long long wait! Things have come up the past few months that pretty much stopped me from writing and editing and finishing this chapter until this morning when I was suddenly adding in a few lines or two. I hope you guys still read this! Read, comment, share, and enjoy.

Luhan walked down the hall, turning the corner to head back to the elevating tiles. All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks and walked to the side. He leaned on the wall, rubbing his temple, as he could hear whispers in his head, whispers from everyone around him. He groaned, and the lights above him started to flicker. 

“Luhan! Luhan! Are you alright?” 

He looked up and nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine. My telepathy’s just going off again, Yifan,” the tall boy nodded in response.

“You sure? The lights have been flickering, didn’t you notice?” he asked. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Ino was calling you earlier, the new recruits are here” 

"Oh are they? I must have dozed off" Yifan said. 

"Have you been flying again last night?" Luhan asked. 

Yifan nodded. "Youngjae said I should get used to doing it more frequently. He's always told me that ever since we started" 

"Because you would rather stay on the ground" 

Yifan nodded. "Yeah, because-" he stared at him. "You just read my mind, didn't you?" 

Luhan nodded, "Your voice is booming in my head," he ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, "Where are you headed anyway? Chanyeol and Sehun are with one of the recruits, so I think you should meet at least one of them first" 

“There are three of them, right?” Yifan asked, “Ino mentioned something about three of them?” 

“Mhmm. Three girls” Luhan nodded, “It’s funny because they never mentioned what they do, I didn’t hear them in my head or anything.”

-

In the run-down parts of the city, a man fell to the ground, blood gushing out of his neck. 

Prince Zeenohai wiped his mouth and slipped on the black hooded jacket the man had been wearing, then walked towards one of the old abandoned buildings. He began to change; his skin turning light like porcelain, his black eyes turned human-like, with dark brown pupils, his long hair retaining its jet black color. 

Once inside the faded, deteriorated interior, the goblin went straight into a fire escape. He climbed down, stopping in front of an old-fashioned door with a rusty doorknob. He turned the knob and stepped out into a dimly lit tunnel, rats and insects scurrying as he started walking. The Prince was called there, hearing familiar voices and recalling familiar events. It had been centuries since he last walked the earth, above and under the ground, and around the kingdom from where he came from. 

He turned left to another old-fashioned door, and stepped inside, revealing an out-of-date elevator. He pressed a button and the elevator began to go down, opening up right into a dimly lit chamber, where white statues of goblins were seated on the couches and chairs. Two more statues stood by the door in front of the Prince, both of whom were carrying spears. 

He approached a bookshelf, pushing it aside to reveal a door, its color matching the faded wallpaper. Pushing it open, it revealed a dark hallway, torches lighting up as he walked until he reached two big doors.

The Prince could hear more whispers as he pushed them open. There was a marble path, and three goblin statues were seated on marble chairs at the very end of the room. Two of them wearing crowns on their heads. The whispers suddenly stopped. 

"Hello, father dear" he walked up to the statue in the middle. Glancing at the statue on the right, he approached it as well. "Sister dear" And then to the statue to the left. "Tarav. I didn't think you would sit in my place" he said. "Then again, you have always been favored, being our royal adviser." 

He stepped back and walked to the middle and bent down on one knee, brandishing a silver blade from his side, the end extending into a spear as it hit the ground. 

He could hear something move, and he could see bits of plaster falling to the floor. Prince Zeenohai looked up and saw his father, the King, now breathing and looking down at him. More bits of plaster fell to the floor as the two statues beside him, his sister and the royal adviser, came to life. 

“Father” he said, standing up at the elder’s gesture. 

“Zeenohai” he said.

“I have returned. I feel the people’s need for me.” 

“The people?” 

“Our people. We’ve slept and waited long enough. Hundreds of years we’ve waited to reclaim what is ours, and the humans above have not granted us this satisfaction” Zeenohai glanced at his sister, Bome.

“The world above is theirs now. We cannot do anything except keep the peace,” Bome suddenly said. 

“The gem.” 

Bome’s eyes widened. “What did you say?” 

“I said the diamond. Where is it? With it we are invincible,” Zeenohai replied.

Tarav stood up and walked up to him. “It is not wise to wage war against the humans. There are a lot of them-” 

“Numbers don’t matter when we are obviously stronger and more powerful with magic. We could make the world above, ours again.” 

“Are you not tired of fighting, Zeenohai?” Tarav asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“I am not. As the heir to the throne, I demand to reign above and below. I demand to reign all,” Zeenohai went back up to Taule. 

King Taule stayed still, Bome and Tarav watching him, waiting for him to say something. “You will not take over until I’m long gone” he said. Prince Zeenohai lifted up his spear and instantly pointed it at his neck. 

Bome got up from her seat and grabbed his arm. “Don’t, brother,” she said with a slight squeeze.

Prince Zeenohai lowered his spear and stepped back, the end sliding back into a sword handle as he tucked it back in his robes. “If I cannot fight my own father, I will have to fight my own way,” he said as he started to walk away. 

The doors closed all of a sudden and the two guards standing by stood in front to block his way. The Prince stood still, his hand slightly poised over his robe. He turned around, eyeing everyone in the room. 

“Your highness, please think it over” Tarav quietly pleaded, looking the Prince in the eye. 

“If you weren’t by my father’s side, I would have driven my sword through you without thinking twice” the Prince said. Tarav backed away. 

\- 

Yifan walked down the halls, looking inside the rooms he passed by, hoping for a sign of two tall and gangly boys who were accompanying a girl. He skidded to a halt once he saw Professor Jang come out, accompanied by Ino. “Hello Professor” he said with a bow. 

“Hello Yifan,” he said. 

“Is there something new? I heard the new recruits are here?” he said. 

Professor Jang smiled. “Yes, yes they are. They must be going around with the others, right Ino?” 

“Yes, Professor, they are. I just saw Jongin pass by with one of them” Ino nodded. He gestured to the end. “Right there, I think they’re on their way to eat” he said. 

Yifan quietly bowed in thanks and walked off, glancing at the rooms in case he spotted any of them. He still needed a little more training, only having practiced within the confines of his room as well as the training room that was specially made for him. 

He opened the doors of the dining hall and instantly spotted Junmyeon with a girl, lining up to pile food on their plates. Jongin was seated with a girl at one table as well, and both of them were eating. 

“Hey Junmyeon” he said as he walked up to Junmyeon and Jinri, moving along with them as they continued piling food on their plates. 

“Oh! Hi hyung, did you finish training?” he asked. 

“No, well, yeah, kind of” Yifan nodded. Spotting Jinri behind Junmyeon he held out his hand to her. “Hello, I’m Wu Yifan, I can fly. You must be the new recruit” he said. 

“Song Jinri, it’s very nice to meet you” she said, putting the ladle aside before shaking his hand. 

“The girl with Jongin at the table over there, is Nam Hyejung” Junmyeon said, gesturing to the table where Jongin was. “The three newbies don’t know their powers yet, or well, they aren’t so familiar with it” he explained. 

“Oh, late bloomers? I was like that too until I realized I was sitting four feet above my bed” Yifan said with a laugh. “Well, it’s nice to meet you two I should probably introduce myself to Jongin and Hyejung, right? See you guys later!” he started to walk over to the other table. 

Yifan waved at Jongin, who put his spoon down and waved him over. The girl named Hyejung looked at him as well as he got closer. “Hey hyung!” Jongin smiled. He turned back to Hyejung and gestured to Yifan. “This is Yifan hyung. He can fly. Yifan hyung, this is Nam Hyejung” he introduced the two, and they shook hands. 

Hyejung smiled. “It’s really nice to meet you” she said. 

“As it is to meet you too,” Yifan nodded. “Where are you kids off to after this?” he asked. 

Jongin and Hyejung turned to each other and shrugged. “I just thought I’d show her around some more. Hyesung doesn’t want us going to some levels though. I think they’re doing some work there” he replied. 

Yifan nodded. “Oh, alright. That’s cool. Hey, I’m not sure if you two know, but have you seen Chanyeol and Sehun? I think they’re with another recruit” he asked. 

“Oh yeah, I think I heard them talk about going back to hang out with her in their rooms or something” Jongin said with a nod. 

“Alright, alright. I just thought I’d get familiar with the three of you new recruits. I was starting to get sick of these guys” Yifan joked and Hyejung laughed and glanced at Jongin. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?” he patted Jongin on the back and nodded at Hyejung before walking off. 

-

Professor Jang turned to Ino as they started walking again. “Ino, I have something to tell you” he started. 

“What is it, Professor?” Ino asked. 

“I have to go away for a while, there are things I have to take care of,” the Professor said. “Things that require my immediate attention and assistance, I can’t delay it any longer” 

Ino’s brows furrowed in worry, “What kind of things?” 

“Serious things. It’s for us and everyone else,” he said, “While I’m away, look after the kids, help the team guide them.” 

“You sound as if you’re going to die,” Ino said. 

“It’s just to make sure, Ino. I won’t be here forever,” Professor Jang suddenly smiled. He took Ino’s hand in his own. “Look after them for me,” he said. 

Ino sighed, “I promise, dad. I won’t let you down.”


	6. Five: Investigation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finally got around to posting. I'm sorry for the long intervals, real life stuff has been getting at me, and now that I've got work, I'm still adjusting a little bit. So whenever my work for the day has been a little loose, I will try to update more frequently. But actually, I was almost done with this chapter, I just had to add a few more bits and pieces plus get my beta's go signal because I never post a chapter without her approval. haha. Anyway, I promise you, this will only get more interesting from here. My writing style is just.. idk how to describe it. I hope you guys will like this.

Five: 

Ino glanced at his father as they brought him up to the garage, where the hostel vehicles were parked. Three tourist buses with the hostel’s name painted on it, and ten ordinary cars. “Don’t worry about me, Ino,” Professor Jang held his hand and squeezed it. “Take care of the kids for me. Guide the team for now” he assured him. Hyesung led him towards one black CRV and opened the door. 

“Professor,” Hyesung said with a smile, and Professor Jang squeezed Ino’s hand one more time before getting inside. 

The window rolled down and the Professor peeked out, and reminded Ino, “Take care of yourself too.”

Ino quietly watched the car leave the garage and out the driveway. His heart was pounding while he kept himself calm. There was something the Professor wasn’t telling him, and he wanted to know what it was. 

Walking back inside, Ino headed towards the elevating tile and stood on it. The tile lowered itself down to Area 10, where his bedroom was. It was quieter than the usual, except for the sudden yelps of pain that he knew was just Kyungsoo trying to lift an object heavier than what he could carry. Once the tile stopped, he stepped off and went down the hall. 

Ino stopped in front of a black door that had a gold plate with his name engraved on it. Turning the doorknob, he opened the door and stepped inside. 

He had lived here ever since he was a kid, hardly remembering where he and the Professor first lived. Professor Jang would sometimes tell him about their first home: a small apartment right in the middle of the city where they had stayed until he was six, and while they lived there, the Professor was already set on renovating the Center. The Center was older than Ino was, although it looked brand new. 

Whenever Ino felt sad or stressed, he would do what he always did: retreat back to his bedroom, and read. His bookshelf was overstuffed with books from all kinds of genres. His most read books are those whose covers had already been folded at the corners, with the pages yellowing. He took a book about all kinds of supernatural beings and creatures, and sat down on his bed, shifting to put his feet up. Ino opened the only page with a folded corner and began to read. 

It was his way of clearing his head, of letting himself immerse in the imagination of the author. However, he sometimes couldn’t help but believe that the beings described in the books he would read about were real. It was hard to, knowing what he was set on doing. How could he not believe that there were mermaids when everything he had seen enter the halls of the Center, tied down and examined by Yongguk and the others, sometimes questioned and interviewed, and rarely, offered a place to stay, were as real as can be. 

He was only on the second paragraph of the book when he heard a thud from the other side of the room. Ino put his book down and saw that a book had fallen off of the shelf and onto the floor, with the pages loose and scattered all around the covers and the spine. Ino bent down to pick it up and paused when he suddenly thought of a glass window crashing on the floor. He stood up to put the book back together, only for it to fall apart in an instant. 

Looking around, he leaned back to peek inside the bathroom. “Luhan? Luhan, are you there?” he asked quietly. There was no answer. 

He paused again when the thought of ceramic statues falling apart in a torch-lit room flashed across his mind. Shaking his head, Ino sighed and returned to his bed, with the broken book in hand. 

~~

Prince Zeenohai rushed through a series of tunnels and passageways deep underground. Followed by a palace guard that was loyal to him alone, they opened a giant door that led to the Esteholm, known to his kind and to the other creatures as a marketplace. 

The Esteholm was vast. Shops and stalls stretched out, up to the underground sewer system of the city above. Yellow lanterns and lamp posts lit the various streets and alleys. It was as busy as he remembered it to be. All kinds of creatures walked by, buying and selling all types of goods. The prince gestured his guard to walk before him, looking around for some sign or clue of what he needed to obtain. But as they walked, all eyes were on them, all of them surprised to see him. 

Prince Zeenohai stopped in front of a troll selling a set of Infernals, small and carnivorous tarantula-like beings. The seller looked up at the Prince and lowered his head. “Your majesty,” he said softly. 

“These Infernals, how much are they?” the Prince asked. 

“For you, your highness,” the seller held up the black cage, his expression hopeful, “Nothing.” 

The Prince gestured to his guard, who picked up the cage and handed the seller a gold coin with the insignia of the Goblin Kingdom. “Nothing comes for free, my good troll” Zeenohai smiled. 

They bid the seller farewell and continued on their way. “If my father doesn’t tell me where the diamond is, I will make him” the Prince grumbled. “Even if it means him dying.” 

They turned a corner into a bookshop, its cloaked owner a tall, blue man with three arms. “Your majesty,” he knelt down upon seeing the Prince enter. 

The Prince simply waved his hand to make him stand. “Rise, good fellow. I have come back to reclaim what is rightfully ours” he said. 

The man stood up and his eyes widened. “Your majesty has the diamond?” he asked nervously. 

Zeenohai looked him in the eyes. “You know about the diamond?” he stepped closer, the palace guard doing the same. 

The man shook his head. “I have only heard of it. There are whispers, your majesty,” he sputtered. 

“What whispers? Did my father warn you about me?” the Prince asked him. He looked over to his guard. “Search this place” he commanded, and the guard obeyed. 

“I don’t blame him. He does not understand my intentions, at all” the Prince said, grabbing the man by the throat. “Speak, creature” 

The man knelt down. “Please, I don’t know what else to tell you. There are only whispers about the diamond, about how powerful it is, please spare my life!” he pleaded. 

“Your majesty,” the guard called to him. The Prince turned around. “I found something” he took out a brown cylinder from the shelf that was full of scrolls in cases. 

Zeenohai approached his guard and took it, looking closely. The brown cylinder had a castle embossed on it, with a small diamond on top. He groaned and shook his head. “This is not it. This is nothing but the legend of the diamond” he put the cylinder down on the table behind them. “I must have the diamond. My plans won’t come to fruition without it, and I will have failed my people.” he muttered. 

Turning back to the man kneeling on the floor, the Prince walked up to him. “Rise, creature. You do not have what I seek” 

Without another word, they disappeared from the shop, the man falling over in relief that his life was spared. 

~~~

Luhan sat on one of the couches in the library, looking through a leather bound book. The covers and the spine had intricate patterns in gold, and its pages were yellowing. He figured it was from when Professor Jang was younger. There were drawings of different creatures on every other page. 

“Luhan?” 

He looked up, and saw Hyesung standing by the door. “Something has come up, you and your M teammates are needed at the site” he said. 

Luhan put the book down and rushed out of the room, following Hyesung down the hall and onto the elevating tiles. “Why? What’s happened?” he asked. 

Ino appeared from another hallway and stood in front of them. “Well, basically something happened somewhere that is out of the ordinary and we need to check it out” he explained, stepping onto the tiles while Luhan and Hyesung followed, “You’ll need to change, Junhong is already on the bus.”

The tile lowered down to the level of their sleeping quarters, and Luhan sprinted down the hall to find his room the moment it was stable. He rushed inside and closed the door, seeing the clothes he needed to wear floating around him. It was the standard uniform for the boys whenever they had to go out on the field: black bodysuits underneath black cargo pants and vests with combat boots. The material of each piece of clothing was designed to act as a second skin and adapted to their abilities. In Luhan’s case, the material was light enough for him to be able to reach for easily as he had trouble with heavier objects. 

Taking the belt that had his locator attached, he rushed out of his room and hurried back onto the tiles. A moment later, he had arrived at the garage, where a small team of suited men with earpieces were waiting for him. Kris, Minseok, Jongdae, Yixing, and Zitao were already inside, strapping their belts on, and fixing the earpieces given to them. 

The interior of the bus seemed bigger than its exterior, and could fit about thirty people maximum. There were small screens at the back and a control panel under it. Half the number of seats were facing each other at the back, while the other half faced the front. The security team coming with them sat in front, while they sat in the back. 

“Okay, everyone, the lucky three locators are with Jongdae hyung, Zitao hyung, and Yixing hyung tonight” Junhong announced, eyeing the six men in front of him. “Remember, always be on the lookout, and always tell each other where you are, and make sure to turn your locators on too” he said. “At times like this, I do wish we had Jongin hyung in here” he sighed. 

“But Jonginie can’t teleport in long distances yet, Yongguk said he needed more practice or else he’ll end up in a hole,” Jongdae said as he shook his head. 

“Practice? More like randomly popping in our rooms whenever we’re asleep or doing something,” Zitao huffed. “He always gets me everytime” 

Junhong laughed. “Alright, alright. I will see you guys when you get back. Good luck” he said to them before getting off the bus. 

~~ 

“It’s the first time we’ve done this kind of investigation in a while” Yixing looked around the bus as they were on their way. The rest of them just nodded. 

Luhan fiddled with the zipper of his vest and examined the pockets. Junhong would usually slip in a few more weapons he had designed, but this time, he had only slipped a small Rubik’s Cube in. “Was there any more information on the place where the incident happened?” he asked, looking up at them. 

“A break-in at a museum, it seems,” Kris stood up from his seat and went up to the control panels at the end of the bus. It had several monitors that showed coordinates and some information, and a few keyboards and extra buttons. He reached to press the blinking blue button and a piece of paper came out of the slit below the monitor. “Another one of our security teams have been dispatched to do a primary search. No bodies were found, only pieces of clothing and shoes, and as expected, some shattered glass cases and artifacts” he said, reading the information from the paper out loud. 

“What about the culprit?” Jongdae asked, as all heads turned to Kris, who was still looking through the information. 

Kris shook his head. “It doesn’t say. But the clothes were slimy, so I guess that gives us a lead,” he handed the paper to the rest of them. 

“I guess we’ll have to find out when we get there” Minseok muttered and sat back, letting the other four take a look while Kris went back to his seat. Once the other four were done looking at the piece of paper, they handed it to Jongdae. 

Electric currents were coming out of Jongdae’s hands and onto the paper, burning it until it was a pile of ash on the ground while the rest of them watched. “Wow, you can control it already?” Tao asked him. 

Jongdae grinned proudly while the rest of them groaned. “Yeah, Daehyun was impressed with me”


	7. Six: Adjustments

Six: 

The bus entered the service entrance of the building. Two suited men with earpieces kept a lookout and signaled the bus to reverse further and park. The men entered the service entrance as the doors were closing and the bus doors opened. “Alright, we’re here” Hyesung stood up from his seat, motioning the six boys to alight the vehicle. 

Broken glass was scattered everywhere in the main floor of the museum, and some of the artifacts were on the floor, a few of the fallen artifacts had already shattered. “Okay, remember, don’t touch anything, we don’t know what happened here so we have to look around” Yifan said. 

“What? Like how detectives do it?” Jongdae asked. They all nodded. 

They turned to Hyesung, who was watching a few other suited men who were taking pictures of the scene. “Where are the slimy clothes that were found?” he asked the other two men, who had apparently arrived before them. 

Luhan paused, and suddenly a big drop of a slimy substance was in front of him, in mid air. “Guys?” he called out, his eyes still fixed upon the drop of slime in front of him. 

“Yeah-whoa” Minseok paused when he approached him, his mouth almost dropping. Glancing at Luhan, he suddenly looked up, and his eyes widened at what he saw. “Hyesung hyung! Everyone!” he called out. 

The rest of them crowded around the telepath, seeing the drop of slime before his eyes. “Take a sample of that” Yifan said. Luhan nodded and took a small container out from his vest and quickly placed the drop inside. Closing the container, he pocketed it, then looked up. 

They suddenly heard a rumbling come from above, and all of them looked up. A huge, slimy web was on the ceiling, and they could see bits of what looked like dismembered human fingers and hands. “Oh my” Luhan muttered, making the rest of them look up, their eyes widening in surprise at the sight. “Yifan, I think you better go up there and take a closer look” 

Yifan nodded and flew up to the ceiling. “It’s a web. Whatever ate these guards are probably similar to spiders. Carnivorous spiders” he said. 

“But aren’t spiders carnivorous in nature?” Zitao asked all of a sudden. “They suck the blood of flies and other insects” he added. 

“No, I mean, these spiders eat larger things. Larger creatures, there must be a lot of them to be able to make a web this big” Yifan brought himself down. 

That made Luhan remember what he had been reading earlier. “Infernals” he suddenly said. The rest of them looked at him. “Infernals are carnivorous, and they look like tarantulas. Smaller tarantulas. They move in groups and I’m guessing they’ve been hungry for a long time” Luhan looked up again. “These infernals were let loose inside” 

Jongdae nodded, and turned to Zitao. “Can you travel back that far in time?” he asked. 

“I can’t yet, I could only travel back about five, six minutes, but probably not any longer than that” Zitao shook his head, a little hesitant. 

“The museum alarm was triggered a half hour before we got here” Hyesung clarified. “But surely, those five to six minutes can count” he calmly urged the time controller. 

Zitao slowly nodded. “Okay, I think I can do it. At least we’re already here” he said. “I’m going to need all of you to move back” he said. The rest of them did so, some of the guards walking off to secure the scene. 

Zitao took a deep breath and closed his eyes. With a wave of his hand, everything around him started to rewind. While he knew he told them that he was going back a few minutes, he decided to go for longer, until everything stopped and he suddenly realized he went back ten minutes. Making a mental note to tell Yongguk about his progress, he stood in his place and saw a hooded figure followed by what looked like a tall goblin guard behind it, smashing the glass cases and looking through the artifacts. 

“Those spiders must be feasting on the guards already” the hooded figure said, and Zitao immediately recognized it to be a male. 

Zitao heard screams of pain suddenly dying down and sounds of chewing and biting growing louder at the spot where he found the Infernals. The infernals scattered around the bodies like termites, eating as much as they could, while the pieces of clothing fell into a slimy mess on the floor. 

“The diamond is not in here. It must be somewhere close. The dwarves have given their half up centuries ago” the hooded figure groaned, throwing the ceramic vases to the floor. The figure looked up and whistled. 

The infernals instantly scrambled downwards and into the cage in which the goblin guard was holding. “I trust that you all have had your fill” the hooded figure bent down to tap at the cage. 

Zitao closed his eyes again and brought himself back to the present time, all of them watching him as he reappeared. “What happened? What did you see?” Minseok instantly asked. 

“I was able to go back ten minutes,” Zitao started off. “There was a hooded figure, and behind him, a guard of some sort, it was a goblin. They set those infernals loose on the guards the moment they set foot in here. They were also looking for something, they mentioned a diamond, and that the dwarves have given theirs up a long time ago” he reported, still a little surprised as to how far he went back. 

“And? Was it in here?” Luhan asked. 

Zitao shook his head. “No. It wasn’t. They broke in here for nothing” 

“They were looking for a diamond, and it wasn’t here. It could only mean that whoever broke in here wanted it really badly. We need to get back and tell Junhong what we found” Yixing pointed out. 

“Whatever that diamond is, it must be that valuable. I don’t think you’d break in a museum just for treasure” Minseok said. 

“Treasures are usually in museums” Jongdae suddenly commented. 

“Well, I don’t think anyone would break into a museum like this just for that” Minseok cleared himself up. 

~ 

Hyejung sat in a chair in Junhong’s lab, holding her arm once Junhong had pulled out the needle of the syringe he used to take a sample of her blood. His lab looked like any other lab; everything was bright, including state of the art equipment. It reminded Hyejung of what she would see in the superhero movies. Test tubes filled with the blood samples of the other recruits, including Mirae’s and Jinri’s were lined up on his table next to a microscope. “What’s the blood sample for?” she asked. 

The question got Junhong a little flustered. “Ah, well, um,” he glanced at the test tubes. “This is for me to figure out your genetic make-up. Because you’re supposedly a late bloomer, I-I will try and figure out what you can do from your blood alone” he answered. “It’s how we figure out how to train you when your abilities come” 

“So, that’s how you train the boys?” Hyejung asked, getting off the chair. 

“Yeah, yeah, they have their own training rooms that are designed to be able to adapt to their abilities” Junhong placed the blood in an empty test tube that he labeled and came back to Hyejung, holding a band-aid. “When we figure out what you can do, the Professor can have another room built for you” he said, gently pressing the band-aid down on the spot on her arm. 

Hyejung nodded. “It sure must cost a lot” she looked around. “I mean, all of this, must cost a lot” 

Junhong watched her. “Yeah it does. But that isn’t really important” he said, turning back to arrange the test tubes, smiling in satisfaction that it was all complete. 

Hyejung noticed a big curtain dividing the lab, and another room. “What’s behind this?” she said, lifting it up and going inside, before Junhong could even stop her. 

“Ah, well, this is where, we-” Before Junhong could even explain, he stopped once he saw the awestruck expression on Hyejung’s face. 

Several tables that had different kinds of equipment were laid out, from spike attachments to blow torches. There were a few cars, all of which, were being fixed up by Himchan, Yongguk, Jongup, Daehyun, and Youngjae. 

“This is where we make stuff” Junhong blurted out. “For you guys, on special assignments” he looked down shyly as he explained it. 

The latter part of what he said made Hyejung’s ears perk up. “For real? Like those gadgets you see in the spy movies or something?” she suddenly grinned wide. 

“Ah, well, sort of, kind of, yes” Junhong fumbled with the sleeves of his lab coat. 

Hyejung looked back at everything with wonder. “This is so cool!” she giggled. Seeing as Junhong couldn’t stop her, he stepped forward and led her through the aisles. 

They stopped at one long table, and before Hyejung could pick up the purple gun that had a green cartridge attached to it, Junhong slapped her hand away. “Don’t touch it yet, it’s still up for testing” he said. 

Hyejung rolled her eyes. “Alright fine, I won’t touch it. But what does that do?” she asked. 

Junhong paused and took a closer look at the cartridge. “This is a gun that emits a type of chloroform that could knock the target out for days. But I’m trying to get this down to at least less than a day” he held it up in front of her then put it back down. “The prototype for this, Youngjae was knocked out for a week” he added. He gestured Hyejung to move along, until they stopped in front of one unattended hostel car that was painted a glossy black. 

“Now what?” Hyejung turned to the towering male next to her. 

Junhong took a metal baseball bat from one of the tables as well as a golf club. Handing Hyejung the golf club, she took it with slight hesitation. “Now, we’re about to put this car to the test. We do that to the rest of the cars up in the garage before we decide to park it up there” he explained. Hyejung still looked confused as to why they were holding the club and the bat. “Hit the trunk as hard as you can”

Hyejung’s eyes widened. “Are you sure that’s a way to test this out? It looks really expensive” she said. 

“We have ways of fixing broken cars, don’t worry. Now hit it” Junhong reassured her. 

Hyejung glanced at him again before swinging the club towards the top of the trunk, hitting it as hard as she could. To her surprise, there wasn’t a dent on the trunk, but the golf club she was holding practically folded in half. “Oh!” her eyes widened as she dropped the golf club. Junhong was standing at the side, grinning proudly. 

“Damn, I’m good” Junhong chuckled to himself. He stepped forward this time, and swung the metal bat towards the side of the car, hitting the door as hard as he could. Once more, to Hyejung’s surprise, the bat Junhong was holding had a big dent, while the car remained dent-free. “All the cars and the buses in the center are like this too. Space-age, and military material, designed to be impervious to anything. The windows are also quite impervious themselves” he explained as he knocked on a window. “These windows, as well as all the windows of the cars and buses of this hostel are made with level 3-A laminated polycarbonate mixed with some gorilla glass, which is good enough to protect everyone inside the vehicle from a 9 millimeter full metal jacket and at the same time not scratch the surface”

Hyejung listened with wide eyes. “I feel like I’m in some kind of, Charles Xavier school for gifted youngsters or something” she said, still very much in disbelief. 

Junhong smiled. “You’re one of them, noona. We’ll figure out your ability. As we will with Mirae noona and Jinri noona” he said. “The professor sought you out for a reason, and you’ve got something that only a small number of people have, if you haven’t noticed already” 

Hyejung nodded. “I do notice it. I mean, it happened when I was a kid, and, for some reason I can’t seem to control it when it does” she muttered. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure you out” Junhong assured her. 

~ 

A soft rumbling made the hairs on Luhan’s arm stand. Looking around, he could see flashes of what Zitao had explained, and more slime suddenly down from the ceiling. “Guys?” he called them. 

When no one listened, he stepped away from his place. “Guys? Something’s here, we have to get out” he said, upon approaching Jongdae and Yixing, who were examining a broken artifact that actually turned out to be a reproduction of the original. 

“Why do we have to get out? We need to see what’s still in here” Minseok asked. 

“Because-” Luhan stopped, as the rest of them suddenly heard a loud scurrying coming from the ceiling. They all looked up, their eyes instantly looking at the ceiling vent right above them. 

“Okay, we kind of do need to get out, but, we also need to get rid of them” Yifan whispered. 

The rest of them spread out in different corners of the room. Yifan and Minseok were at the two staircases at the end, Yixing stood by a door leading to another exhibit on one end, while Jongdae stood by the other end. Zitao was by the windows. “We’ll cover you all by the elevators. Junhong says to get at least one of the creatures, but other than that, remember your training, and fire away” Luhan heard Hyesung’s voice in his head. He closed his eyes, quietly relaying the information to everyone else. 

Their first real mission, and it involved having them get rid of cannibalistic spiders. The six of them stood in their places, their hearts all pounding from nervousness and fear, that started to translate into the adrenaline rush they were having as the ceiling vent fell to the floor, and a swarm of twenty, thirty thousand infernals were scurrying all over the ceiling and crawling down to the walls. 

“Oh, I do wish Chanyeol was in here” Minseok grumbled as he held up his palms, creating a wave of ice at the oncoming infernals that were approaching the floor. With a few waves of his hands, he ended up making ice towers that were as high as the ceiling. Yifan soon grabbed Minseok by the waist and carried him across the room, letting Minseok create and control the flurry of ice that was soon spreading on the floor. 

“Hyung! You could have let us know you were going to turn this room into a freezer!” Zitao took out the pistol from his belt and started shooting the infernals that were about to surround him. 

“Don’t complain! Just shoot! Keep them away from the elevators!” Yixing shouted from his place, as he shot some infernals with a pistol that had a highly corrosive acid fitted into the bullets before heading into the other exhibit. 

Jongdae shot a few hundred at a time with the same kind of bullet, Luhan ran up the stairs, parting the oncoming swarm of infernals like the red sea. “Jongdae, you might want to electrocute them now” he said. 

“We could have just turned the clock back and got out before the infernals came back” Zitao sprinted towards the door where Yixing was. 

“Jongdae!” Luhan called him. “Jongdae, do it, now! While the ice is melting!” 

As Yifan brought Minseok to the other side with Yixing and Zitao, he flew back in, dodging the infernals that were falling from the ceiling, one of them catching onto his sleeve and biting into his arm. He let out a loud groan, taking the infernal off his arm and throwing it to the floor. He managed to grab Luhan’s outstretched hand and brought him to the other side. 

“Water makes for a good conductor of electricity,” Jongdae muttered to himself as sparks and currents were suddenly coming out of his fingers. Yifan carried him up in time, before the water would touch his feet. Sparks and a loud buzzing filled the room, and within moments, all the infernals in the room were either melted off from the acid puddles, or laying lifeless on the marble floor and on the walls, fried to a crisp. 

All was quiet, and Yifan and Jongdae lowered themselves on the dry top stair of one staircase. Luhan peeked through the door, before hopping from side to side as to avoid the acid puddles. “Everything’s dead?” he asked, looking up at Yifan and Jongdae, who were nodding. 

“Any injuries?” Yixing suddenly asked, coming out from the other room as well, followed by Zitao. Yifan raised his hand, showing them his bitten arm. 

Jongdae stepped back upon seeing it. “Hyung, you’re not going to turn into a were-fernal, are you?” he teased. 

Yifan laughed and punched the younger male’s arm. “Yah.. I hope not” 

~ 

Mirae was in the center’s gym, holding one of the kendo sticks that she found out belonged to Minseok, who was apparently quite skilled at the sport. Instead of holding it at it’s base, she held it in the middle, and all of a sudden, she swung it from one side to another with one hand. Spinning the stick with both hands, Mirae moved from one side to another as well, stopping just before she could hit the punching bags. 

It wasn’t long before she noticed that she had an audience. Mirae stood back up again, and slowly turned around, almost dropping the kendo stick in surprise upon seeing Jongin standing by, with sweat-slicked hair and a towel around his neck, and holding a water bottle. Jongin looked amazed. 

Mirae looked down. “Sorry, um, sorry, I was just, um,” she mumbled, hurriedly putting the stick back in its place before running out of the gym. 

Jongin watched her, contemplating on whether he should confront her about it or not, but he chose the latter. 

Once he saw that she had already disappeared, he closed his eyes and in a matter of seconds, he found himself in the showers, where he spotted Ino in a bathrobe, having just finished. 

“Jongin! What did I tell you about teleporting in the showers?” Ino suddenly said, upon catching him. 

“Sorry, hyung, but I guess it’s good that I found you,” Jongin rushed up to him. “I saw Mirae earlier, in the gym. She’s good with a stick” he said. 

Ino raised a brow at the younger male. “What do you mean with a stick?” he asked. 

They started walking towards the door. “I mean, Mirae’s doing that swishy thing that Tao does. But it’s like she’s some kind of...well..she’s like Tao too! And Baekhyun hyung! And Minseok hyung!” Jongin explained. 

“Oh! I know, I have her profile. She’s trained in bojitsu, or martial arts with the use of a staff or a long stick” Ino nodded. 

“So, that means she could kick my ass?” 

Ino chuckled. “In a manner of speaking, yes she could. It’s best to be careful around her then. Treat her well, even more so because she’s new” he advised. 

Jongin pretended to be offended. “Hyung, I would never!” 

Ino laughed loudly. “Of course I know you always treat girls well. But Mirae’s rather different. She’s gone through some really tough times” he said. “Her family, well, sent her to a mental institution when she was younger” 

The teleporter’s eyes widened. “Just because they knew she was different?” and Ino nodded. 

“Well, fear makes people do crazy things. This was probably what they did because they were afraid of what she could do” Ino sighed. “This place is supposed to make people like you safe, while sort of saving the world at the same time” he explained. 

He turned back to Jongin. “Just quietly look out for her” 

~ 

Mirae ran back to her room, closing the door behind her and locking it. Just like the others, it was decorated the same way, only this time the shelves were not only full of books, it was also full of movies. She was more comfortable left on her own devices, being more of a wallflower rather than the life of the party, or at least she wasn’t as confident and sociable as Hyejung. She was a little embarrassed, getting caught using Minseok’s kendo stick to do some fancy tricks she learned as a teenager, and Jongin the teleporter being the one who caught her at that. 

The adjustment period was probably going to take a little longer than she thought it would. Even when Mirae knew she would be staying in a place where there were people like her, people who were more than what they seemed, and can do more than the normal human being. 

Normal. A word that would end up sounding anything but in this place. 

She had already been trying to make herself at home, unpacking most of her things while leaving out the rest for later. There wasn’t much to do now that she was staying in a new place, but she felt a little sad knowing that she had to say goodbye to the married couple that took her in when she ran away from the place she came from. 

As she was about to head into the bathroom and take a shower, there was a knock on the door. “Who-who is it?” Mirae asked. 

“It’s uh, Junhong” 

Mirae opened the door. “Hello, Junhong. What’s up?” she asked. 

Junhong looked down, a little reluctant to say something. “I need you to um, come with me, I think I have figured you out” he said with a small smile. 

He led her to the lab and gestured her to sit down on the chair. Junhong looked at his monitor and typed something. “Your DNA,” he showed her an enlarged view of her cells. “They seem to radiate some kind of energy when provoked or, in a sort of phase. As if,” he paused to look at the screen again. “they can make surrounding cells do the same.” he said, stunned at what he realized. 

“Which means what, exactly?” Mirae looked at the screen, a little nervously. 

Junhong looked closely at the images for another moment then turned around, nodding slowly at what he thought. “You can manipulate energy” he said. “Rather, you can convert potential energy into kinetic energy on a great scale” 

Mirae just nodded, but still looked a little confused with what he said. 

In order to make her understand it better, Junhong looked back at the images and then at her file. “How exactly did you find out you had this?” he asked. 

She looked down at her hands, then back at Junhong. “There was this time, when I was 9, I got angry at this boy who kept pulling on my ponytail at the playground. I was holding my hair tie, and I just felt the urge to throw it at him. I missed, but I saw it explode next to him, like a firecracker” she explained. 

“That’s what I was referring to. You have this ability to pick up any inanimate object and, charge it with a lot of energy that it could end up exploding wherever you throw it” Junhong explained. 

Mirae nodded. “Wow, that’s-that’s what I can do..” she said. 

Junhong nodded. “Did it start happening more frequently since that time?” he asked. 

“It did. It started happening more and more during the two times I underwent electroshock therapy when I was 13,” Mirae replied. “The electricity only seemed to make it worse, I think” 

This time, Junhong shook his head. “Or it only seemed to make it better” he got up and walked over to her. “Lee Mirae, you’re one of a kind. I can help you, we can all help you, and after this, we’re all working to find a way to help you channel that, turn it into something that could benefit you and help everyone else” he advised her. 

Mirae looked at the images. “It’s so hard to control it, once it comes out,” she muttered. “I’m scared of myself” 

“You won’t have to anymore. With this, figuring out what you can do now, I’ve reported this to Ino and to Professor Jang, and we’ve been given the go signal to start constructing your training room” Junhong smiled. “But the good news is, we can finally start!” he suddenly squealed. 

Mirae stared at his reaction. “So, where will I train?” 

“You will train in Chanyeol’s room for now. But you’ll probably want to dress down a little more. It can be hot in there” he replied. 

“Oh no, no, no, I can’t use Chanyeol’s room, it’s his room and I don’t want to bother him by using it too” Mirae shook her head. 

Junhong paused, then smiled once he thought of a solution. “Outside then?” 

“Yes, outside would be better”


	8. Seven: First Glance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's another chapter for everyone! Oh, and in regards to Mirae's love interest... he will be revealed in the latter chapters! Enjoy.

“What?” Jinri looked at Junhong, surprised at what she saw in the screen behind them. 

“Your cells, like Mirae’s, radiate some sort of energy. The difference to this is that, it isn’t explosive, but more on force. From what I can assume, one blast from you, and it pushes anything away, depending on how big it is, of course” Junhong glanced back at the screen showing her DNA. 

“So that’s what it is..” she trailed off, looking down at her hands. Junhong just nodded. “My parents, and my sister, when they found out,” she sighed. “They had a hard time taking the news, especially when I showed them, making a mess in the living room. They honestly looked relieved when I told them I was going away for a while” she chuckled nervously. 

Junhong nodded as he understood. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that anymore. Your training room is being constructed. For now, where do you want to train?” he asked with a smile. 

Jinri shrugged. “I-I don’t know. Where can I train? Where are Mirae and Hyejung training?” she asked. 

As Junhong observed her, he tilted his head apologetically. “You’re not ready to train, are you?” he asked. 

Jinri paused, and slowly nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m just not ready to tap into my powers just yet” 

In an attempt to convince her somehow, Junhong went up to her and knelt down to look at her properly. “You know, if you tap into it, you won’t have to be afraid of what you can do. Everyone else might be, but not you” he said softly. “You won’t have to be afraid of yourself, Song Jinri” 

Junhong’s words had seemed to calm her down. He was right. “I just need time, if it’s okay” she said. 

“Okay” he smiled. “But I’ll still look into your abilities and see what else we can do. Maybe when your training room’s ready, we can perhaps, start” 

~ 

The bus had returned, and the six of them rushed out, followed by their security team and Hyesung. “What happened?” Ino asked upon seeing them. 

“Yifan got bit by an infernal. They were there,” Luhan explained. “There were a lot of infernals there, they ate all the guards in the place,” he said, as Ino caught up with him. 

“Where are the hyungs? I need to tell him about my progress in going back in time” Zitao smiled proudly. 

“You can tell them that later, we need to get to the lab, analyze what we have” Minseok told him as they rushed to the elevating platforms. Ino pressed a button right away, elevating them down towards the floor where several small laboratories dedicated to examining unidentified foreign substances. Not many people were on it, and it was only Junhong and the others who frequented the floor. 

It was clear that Professor Jang had made Junhong the head of everyone else working with them, and Hyesung being the head of security. There weren’t many people in the Center at all. Security officers sometimes doubled as scientists, and Hyesung sometimes had the dirty task of making sure the otherworldly creatures were kept in a safe place, usually until they died or were back in perfect health since they were acquired under rough conditions most of the time. 

The boys, since they started staying in the center, had also taken it upon themselves to learn and help around, sometimes assisting the others in analyzing samples and constructing parts, Minseok showing a knack for chemistry while Kyungsoo did some heavy lifting. 

Once they landed on the floor, they went in the nearest lab, Luhan turning the lights on and assembling what they needed. 

“So, tell me everything that happened?” Ino asked them. 

“Tell him, Tao” Jongdae said, taking the sample of the slime they collected in the container out. 

Zitao turned to Ino. “When we arrived, there were a lot of displays that got smashed, and broken glass everywhere. I went back 10 minutes to find out if there had been anything that happened contrary to the supposed time, and then I saw this hooded figure, and then this other..thing.. It looked like a goblin,” he explained. “This goblin..guy.. Was the one that let loose, and the hooded figure was saying something about a diamond not being there, and let the infernals eat away at the guards. It was horrible!” he cringed at the thought. 

“Oh no,” Ino’s eyes widened. He remembered the book he was reading earlier, and at the same time he wondered how he managed to know everything that happened before Zitao had told him. He couldn’t say it, but he couldn’t explain it either. Ino made a mental note to have Junhong check him out. 

“Yeah, oh no!” Zitao nodded. 

“I think I know who that hooded figure is, but it can’t be true, it just can’t...” Ino fled out of the lab, leaving the rest of them. 

“Where’s Ino hyung going?” Minseok asked. 

Luhan looked back at the door. “He-he’s going to the library” he said quietly. “Whoa, our powers are just having a field day, huh?” he suddenly joked. 

~ 

Hyejung spotted Mirae having a snack in the cafeteria. She came back from a little workout in the gym, and having been told what she could do by Junhong, she was curious as to what her fellow new recruits could do. She noticed a long metal rod against her table, and quietly moved it to the side for her to sit down in front of Mirae. “Hiya!” she said. 

“H-hi” Mirae said. 

“So, did Junhong give you the talk?” Hyejung asked. 

Mirae raised a brow. “What talk?” 

“You know, the talk? About your powers? Assuming that you’ve already known about them?” she replied. 

“Oh, well, yeah,” Mirae nodded. “He did. Apparently, I can touch things or throw things and they can explode like firecrackers” she said. “At least that’s what I got from his explanation” 

Hyejung looked impressed. “Wow. And then I thought mine was pretty badass” she said. 

“What could you do?” 

At the question, Hyejung’s ears perked up a little. She picked up Mirae’s soda can, and with a wave of her hand, the can went through a small portal, and reappeared by the room’s entrance. Mirae looked impressed as well. “Junhong says I can create portals, and that with those portals, I can be able to displace objects or people” she explained. “He couldn’t see it in my dna, so I showed him, of course” 

“Have you started training?” Mirae asked. 

“Yeah! They’re making me use Jongin’s room for now. Jongin doesn’t mind, he stopped by to watch while I did my thing” Hyejung smiled. “What about you? What’s that thing for?” she prodded the metal rod. 

“I’m just about to start on mine, we’re doing it outside. I don’t want to use Chanyeol’s room” Mirae shook her head. 

Hyejung suddenly grinned. “And speaking of Chanyeol, he seems pretty interested in you” she said. 

“What are you talking about?” Mirae raised a brow. 

“Chanyeol’s been giving you the eye. I’ve seen it” she said. 

Mirae shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. We’re just friends” she said. 

“Oh right. Because there’s someone else on your mind? Do you have a boyfriend? Husband?” Hyejung asked, grinning. 

Mirae said nothing. “Girlfriend, then?” Hyejung asked. 

“No. There’s this guy..he’s not like us,” Mirae shook her head. “Him and I..we worked together for years at this music store” she said. “But I doubt he’ll know how I feel about him” she said. 

“Well? What’s his name?” Hyejung said. 

“It’s...Hyuk. His name is Hyuk, and,” Mirae sighed. “He’s the most perfect guy I’ve ever known. He’s so cool, and so very nice and sweet and funny” she said. Seeing as she may have gushed a little too much, she cleared her throat. “Sorry, well, you know what I mean. If he finds out what I can do, he’ll just probably think I’m a freak” 

Hyejung shook her head. “Don’t assume. The professor lets us go out from time to time, you can probably pay him a visit” she said. 

“Ah, I don’t know. He might hate me for leaving so suddenly” she said. 

“We still need to get out and breathe the fresh air, though” Hyejung grinned. “Do you have a photo of him? I want to see what he looks like” 

“Well, it’s in my room. I actually look at it every night before I go to bed” she said, looking down upon feeling her cheeks heat up. 

“Aww, Mirae’s in love” Hyejung swooned.

Mirae cleared her throat. “What about you? Jongin probably likes you” she suddenly said, changing the subject. 

“What? No! We just get along great. We have things in common, and he’s younger than me, by two years” Hyejung shook her head. 

“So? Age doesn’t matter when you’re in love” Mirae said. She knew, since Hyuk was just a year younger than she was. 

Just then, Junhong came in the cafeteria, and once he caught Mirae’s eye, he nodded, gesturing her to come outside. Mirae turned back to Hyejung. “I have to go now. Junhong said I could start” she picked up her now empty tray of food to bring it back. 

“O-okay then. Hey, I want to come with you to that music place. That Hyuk guy sounds like a dream” Hyejung grinned. 

Mirae picked up her rod. “I-I really have to go training now” she said, and fled the room. 

“Hey” Junhong was standing outside, waiting for her. “I hope you’ve eaten well, we’ve got some training to do” he said cheerily. 

Mirae smiled. “Yes, yes, I did. Thank you for this by the way,” she held up the metal rod. 

Junhong took it from her and pressed a small button that looked like a screw in the middle. The rod extended. “It’s a staff. Jongin told me you did something with Minseok’s kendo stick, I assume, that’s what you practice?” he asked. 

“Not really. I practice bojitsu, and some other martial arts” she answered quietly as they walked. 

Junhong looked at her, clearly impressed. “Wow, since you were a kid?” he asked. 

Mirae nodded. “Yeah. It was a way for me to get rid of the stress I was feeling, all the pent up anger inside,” she explained. “All the fear and trauma, and the adrenaline I got when I did it just made it all go away” 

Junhong smiled and handed the staff back to her. “Then it’s great you have this. It’s not just any metal staff, it’s designed to help you with your powers too. You can use it as a weapon, but I guess you already know that” he chuckled. 

She had never seen what was behind the Center until she was to start training. It was then that she figured out that it was bigger than she thought. The backyard was rather spacious, enough for anyone to practice on. Trees lined the borders of the place, obscuring the view of any house or building that was nearby. “I now realize that I have a bigger training room than the rest of the boys” Mirae said quietly. 

“For now. But I hope you’ll be able to feel comfortable in this setting. As this is the first time you will be, showing them off,” Junhong stopped at a table that had different kinds of objects laid out on top. “I will observe, as there may be additional abilities that you might have, as your training room will adapt to your powers and your powers alone” he said. 

“Additional abilities?” Mirae raised a brow. 

Junhong nodded and picked up the clipboard in front of him. “Yeah. Your powers might lead you to possess other superhuman abilities, you never really know” he said. “Now, think fast!” he threw a hacky sack at her. 

To her surprise, and Junhong’s, she caught it with one hand before it hit her face. “Fast reflexes,” he muttered, writing it down. 

“Hey! That wasn’t fair!” Mirae laughed. 

“I had to test you!” Junhong laughed as well. “Well, now we can start” he gestured her to go into the field. 

Mirae looked at the hacky sack in her hand. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what she was feeling the last time it came out. She imagined the playground, with the boy pulling on her ponytail. She felt frustrated from not knowing what to do, to rage at what the boy had done to her. Her pupils started to glow red and so did her fingertips. Mirae threw the hacky sack as far as she could, and it exploded, creating a hole in the ground, as if a grenade had fallen in. 

Junhong watched her in awe, mindlessly scribbling his observations on the paper in his clipboard. “Okay, try this,” he cleared his throat and handed her a basketball. Mirae did the same, throwing the ball as hard as she could, but it didn’t explode as heavily as the hacky sack. 

Mirae turned around, the glow in her eyes and fingertips had disappeared. “So, any thoughts?” she asked. 

Junhong slowly nodded. “Well, first thought is that you are pretty powerful,” he chuckled. “The second thought is that, from what I’ve seen, so far,” he swallowed. “Is that, your power to turn, or as it looks like, charge, an object to turn it into a firecracker or grenade, also depends on the object’s mass,” he tried to explain. “The hacky sack earlier blew up like a grenade, but the basketball exploded like firecrackers in a saucepan” 

“Maybe it also depends on how long I’ve been holding it?” Mirae asked. 

Junhong nodded again. “Yeah! Could be. Now, I want you to try it, with this” he handed her a bowling ball. “Keep it with you for a little bit longer, then throw” 

~ 

Prince Zeenohai and his guard, named Ejol, had reached a dark and secluded part of the Esteholm. It was there that they were certain, was another entrance to a part of the goblin kingdom that he was determined to get to. It was closed off by a giant steel door. The Prince approached the door, and with one hand, felt around the surface. “Open up, my pretty” he muttered, dragging a nail down a small part of the door. 

The sounds of gears turning and locks clicking could be heard from within, and the door slowly opened before them. Prince Zeenohai turned to him. “We’re getting close” an evil grin soon appeared on his face, and he walked inside. 

The passageways were lit by torches. The ground was uneven, with sharp rocks here and there, enough to pierce through their feet. The Prince and Ejol had pressed on, until they reached another door, a smaller one than the entrance itself, sealed off by a golden combination lock. Numbers written in their native alphabet were engraved on the door. “If I remember correctly,” he said, turning the dial clockwise once, and counter-clockwise twice. 

The door had opened, and the Prince and his guard continued on. “Finally,” he said. They were looking at four hallways of catacombs. “Your fellow warriors have fallen asleep while I was away,” he said to his guard, as he took his hood off. “But now I’m back, and it’s time to wake them up” 

“Yes, your highness” Ejol slowly approached a basin in front of them. With his spear, he cut his wrist, and poured his inky-black blood onto the basin. The blood went into the small hole, where it traveled through four small passages on the floor, leading up to the tombs. 

And within moments, growls and grumbles could be heard, and the Prince pressed onto the middle hallway, until he reached the ends and found himself in the middle of a much bigger room. Soon enough, he was then faced by hundreds of guards, all ready and waiting. “I have come back for you all. All of you, who have proven loyal to me since my exile,” he declared. “My father, and my sister have proven unfit to fulfill their roles in this kingdom. But I, I will change all of that soon. We will begin anew, and reclaim our Kingdom above!” 

The goblin army had cheered. 

“We will be good and ready in no time” 

The goblin army had soon broken through the catacombs to bring in more space. A few dozen had started to dig, until they struck various substances, from mercury, to molten gold, to silver, and lava in itself. Another dozen had started work on more weapons, and another dozen had continued on breaking down more walls. 

“These warriors are loyal to me. I will show my father that I am powerful, more powerful than he” 

“Yes you are, your highness” Ejol said to him. “What else must we do?” 

The Prince shook his head. “Find the diamond. Whatever it takes. For now, we must finish construction” 

~ 

Jinri was in the library. She had come across a heavy leather book titled “Tale of the Goblin Kingdom” spelled out in gold. Flipping through the pages, she stopped when she saw an illustration of a diamond. “The diamond of the Tree of Life” she read. “Three inches tall, and one inch wide, and laid into the Tree of Life. Whoever possesses this gem will become invincible, with the power to take over the earth, as well as immortality and eternal youth. Virtually impossible to cut and mold into, only blades made out of the steel made by the dwarves could cut it” she continued reading. 

She paused, and looked at her hands, remembering what Junhong had told her. Jinri knew the damage she could do the moment it came out years ago. 

Jinri was 9 years old when it first happened. It started when a fight that ensued between her and her older brother ended up with the latter on the living room floor, terrified and confused as to what just happened. The living room was a mess. The couch was cut in half, pillow stuffings were everywhere, and the chandelier that hung above was on the verge of falling. It fell down the moment her parents had arrived. Her brother looked at her, his face white and he was shaking. It had taken a while for her parents to understand, and up until this moment, they still didn’t. 

She came to terms with it when she was 12, truly discovering what she could do by then, and under a similar circumstance. The kids at the playground made fun of her skin color, and due to rage, Jinri had blasted the seesaw and the swings off the place. No one got injured, but since then they had avoided the playground. 

“Hey” Said a voice from behind her. 

Jinri turned around to see a smiling Jongdae. “Song Jinri, right?” he asked. 

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s me” she said, shaking Jongdae’s outstretched hand. 

“I see you’re reading the Tale of the Goblin Kingdom” he said, noticing the pages. “And you’re at the diamond?” he asked. 

“Yeah, I am. It’s fascinating. It sounds like a fairy tale” Jinri smiled, turning back to the book. 

“From what I hear from the Professor, it’s that this,” Jongdae tapped the book. “This is real or something” 

“It seems too good to be true” Jinri shook her head. 

Jongdae smirked. “Well, doesn’t this seem too good to be true? We’re in a center for people like us” he chuckled. “So, have you started training with Junhong yet? I saw him training Mirae earlier and wow, she’s one badass woman” he said, clearly impressed. 

“Ah, I haven’t started yet. I’m,” Jinri sighed. “Not exactly ready to show it yet” she muttered. 

The male nodded. “I understand. It could be scary tapping into it the first few times it’s happened” he said. “I was afraid I might start throwing thunderbolts everywhere like Zeus on my first day training” he laughed. 

“How did you get through it?” Jinri asked. 

“Well, it helps that Junhong’s encouraging. Him and Ino hyung, they’re much wiser than we give them credit for” Jongdae replied. “Professor Jang was also encouraging too. He told me to pace myself. One thunderbolt at a time” 

Jinri felt more at ease with Jongdae’s words. “So you didn’t make a mess or anything?” 

“Oh, I did make a mess. It’s hard not to when you’re starting out, but trust me,” Jongdae patted her shoulder. “You’ll get past that. Once you get into it, you’ll learn how to control it, maybe even have fun with it too” he smiled. 

She smiled. “Thank you for that” she closed the book and put it back on the shelf. 

“No problem,” Jongdae said. “I’m going to go grab something to eat. Have you eaten?” 

“I could eat, yeah” Jinri nodded, and they headed out of the library. 

They went into the cafeteria, where the rest of the boys were. Jongin was sitting with Hyejung and Sehun in one table, while Luhan, Kris, Minseok, and Yixing were in another table. Jongdae figured that Junmyeon, Baekhyun, and Kyungsoo were training, while Zitao was at the Center’s gym with Chanyeol. Ino was quietly eating a sandwich in another table, with Youngjae, Jongup, and Daehyun, as well as a few cups of coffee. 

“So, what exactly do we do here?” Jinri managed to ask Jongdae, as they piled their trays with some snacks. 

Jongdae placed a tall strawberry smoothie on her tray. “Well, for the most part, we train here, learn about things here. You could say we can live here for as long as you like” he replied, leading them to another table where they could eat in peace. 

“Really? Then that means we can leave sometime?” Jinri said, digging into her burger. 

Jongdae nodded. “Yeah. I mean, would you want to stay cooped up in here forever?” 

Jinri shrugged. She didn’t think that far yet. “I never thought of it that way, to be honest” 

“Well, someday, I’ll want to leave and live somewhere normal, you know?” Jongdae said, in between bites of his pizza. “But hey, I don’t mind staying here. It almost feels like we’re superheroes in a way” 

“Well, that’s true. Feels like we’re the Avengers or something” Jinri looked around. 

“X-Men, I believe, is the more accurate term,” Jongdae corrected her. “But we’re like the J-Men, since it’s Professor Jang” he joked, making Jinri laugh. 

“J-Men? That’s so lame” Jinri covered her mouth as she laughed. 

~ 

Baekhyun’s training room was perhaps the brightest of all the training rooms in the Center. It was filled with mirrors and crystals, objects that would be able to catch and refract light, as that was his power. He knew how to bend, and project light. Himchan was standing by, wearing goggles that resembled the ones Oompa Loompas would wear in the tv room of Willy Wonka’s Factory, and holding a clipboard. “What are we doing today, hyung?” he looked back at the older male. 

Himchan smiled. “Back in ancient Egypt, people would use mirrors to be able to catch the sunlight, lighting up a whole room just by using those. Want to try doing that?” he asked. 

Baekhyun tried not to laugh with how silly he looked with the goggles, and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I think I can be able to create it” he said, turning back to the mirrors and crystals in front of him. 

With a deep breath, his palms started to glow, and he focused it on one mirror, until it started to bounce off to another, and another. Baekhyun kept his focus on the first mirror, trying to get the light coming from to bounce off to the other mirrors properly. His energy was draining little by little as he was concentrating, Himchan recording every detail. In moments, the light had successfully bounced off each mirror in front of him. 

“Do I go brighter?” Baekhyun said, the light suddenly bouncing off the crystals in the ceiling. “I think I can go brighter” 

Himchan observed Baekhyun as he continued to do so, his eyes widening at what he saw. Not only was the room incredibly bright, but the power coming from Baekhyun was starting to make him glow as well. “Baekhyun,” he said in awe. The younger continued to go at it. “Baekhyun stop, stop” his voice was louder this time. 

In a flash, the light had disappeared, and Baekhyun turned back to him. “What? Did I go too bright? Should I tone it down?” he asked. 

Himchan shook his head. “No, but something really incredible happened. It seems that you were able to generate so much that it started to manifest physically, and on you, if it makes any sense” he said, still in awe. 

Baekhyun raised a brow. “What do you mean?” 

“What I mean is, your power has grown exponentially, that you started to glow,” Himchan explained. “Like you’ve become a human lightbulb” 

Baekhyun laughed at the analogy, but was surprised nonetheless. “Really?” 

Himchan nodded. “You’ve grown along with your power. I don’t think there’s anything more to it” he said. 

“Does this mean I don’t need to train anymore?” Baekhyun asked, relieved but slightly worried. He was never one to sit still. 

Himchan smiled and took his goggles off. “On the contrary, now that you’ve grown with your power, you’re onto the next stage of training, and this one, you’ll probably look forward to, because you’ll be with the others once they’ve trained enough” he said. “Didn’t you say you practiced hapkido?”

And at the question, Baekhyun immediately knew what he meant, and a grin so wide spread across his face. “Really?!” 

Himchan nodded. “Well, you can refer to this as your physical education class, since you’ll be doing this with the others. To develop teamwork, since there will be situations that you’ll be forced to defend yourselves. The professor and Ino have been talking about this for months since you boys joined the Center” he explained. Baekhyun got giddier at his answer.


	9. Eight: A Rumbling In The Ground

Eight: 

Ino rushed into the library, looking around for the shelf where he remembered the book was placed. He started on the second level, trying to remember how the books in the center were arranged. They weren’t arranged by anything, as he had found out, which made it even more difficult. He was checking the shelves from top to bottom until he felt something hit his head. 

It was the book he was looking for, floating in front of him. 

His eyes widened, unable to say something about what was going on in front of him. The book about the goblin kingdom, floating in front of him, when he hadn’t even found it yet. Adding up to that, the book had opened, and showed him the part about the diamond. 

“Lu-Luhan? Are you there?” he managed to call out, but no answer. He was still in shock. 

“Luhan, I know you like to play pranks on me at times, but can you stop?” Ino said, unsure whether that was the right thing to say. 

There was no answer. Knowing that he’ll end up finding the answers to what he had been experiencing, Ino decided to read the passage of the book. 

While the diamond of the Tree of Life had since been tucked   
Away from the dangerous eyes of mere mortals and creatures,  
There are beings who are worthy enough to guard it. How the  
Diamond had become somewhat sentient is unknown, but it is  
Certain that it is under heavy guard. 

An idea had sprung to mind, and Ino started to think of his father. Professor Jang, who had been away for a little too long, without saying anything much about it, just that he look after the recruits for him. Could it be? He thought. Could it be that his own father had been chosen to look after this very precious gem? 

Throughout his childhood and until he grew up, Ino would remember him suddenly going away without saying why or where he was off to. He would then return, but would not speak of what he had done or where he’d been, nor anything he experienced during that time. Professor Jang would brush it off, saying that he’d rather not talk about it, and that it was nothing. 

However, this wasn’t nothing anymore. Disturbances were starting to occur, and if he wasn’t dreaming, Ino could feel the ground rumble at his feet, and if he was really quiet, he could hear something, or a lot of things, a growling underneath the earth. 

He really needed to let Junhong check him out. Or Luhan. Someone, anyone, who could tell him what he was experiencing. 

At that moment, Hyesung passed by. “Go Hyesung,” Ino called out, rushing downstairs and to the door. 

“Yes, sir?” 

“Please call Junhong, Luhan, and Jongin too. Tell them to come to the library” 

Hyesung suddenly sensed that he was being strange. “Is something wrong, sir?” 

Ino sighed. “I feel that there may be. And that we, we will have to do something about it” 

A few moments later, Ino was looking at the stunned faces of Hyesung, Junhong, and Jongin. “There has been some kind of slight tremor lately. We are underground, after all” Junhong nodded. 

“Someone’s come for the diamond? The one the hyungs saw in the museum?” Jongin asked. 

“I’m afraid so,” Ino nodded. He didn’t mention what he had experienced with the book to any of them just yet, but he knew Junhong had to find out. Or any one of the recruits. “And I have a feeling my father’s guarding it” 

“The professor? He’s not back yet?” Jongin suddenly looked around. Ino shook his head. “This is the first time he’s been away longer. It’s usually an hour or so, but..” he shrugged. 

Ino then turned to Junhong. “I think it’s time to move the boys and the girls into the next stage of training. We’ll be investigating something soon” he said. 

Junhong nodded, knowing what he meant, and so did Hyesung and Jongin, who looked especially excited. “Combat training. We’ll finally get to break into the communal one” he said, a grin soon spreading across his face. 

“This is so cool! I’m personally excited” Jongin said. 

“So am I, and this also means I’ll be briefing the rest of my men on this” Hyesung nodded. 

~ 

Without the others knowing, Yifan, Minseok, and Luhan had gone to the mall. “Finally, we’ve been cooped up in the Center for too long” Luhan said, while they sipped on their iced coffees and iced green tea as they walked. 

“Well, the professor’s away, plus Ino’s busy doing stuff. I heard from Baekhyun that we’ll probably start on our next level of training soon” Minseok grinned. 

The two taller men looked at him. “Really? What does that mean exactly?” Luhan asked. 

Yifan nodded, realizing what that meant. “Combat training” 

Luhan’s eyes widened. “For real?! Like we’ll be using our powers in combat?” he asked, and the other two nodded. 

“I’m excited for it. Can’t wait to turn people into popsicles” Minseok laughed. Looking around, they noticed girls eyeing them. “We should have brought the girls here. I think they haven’t been to this mall” he suddenly said. 

“The girls? Oh yeah, I guess we should have” Yifan said, waving to the same girls, who giggled. “So, where are we going next?” 

“Nike store. I saw some Air Jordans that looked really cool” Minseok replied. 

As they were about to enter a Nike store, they heard a scream coming from the escalators. Stopping to look, they saw a man holding a suitcase and standing on the railing from the top floor. There were people crowding around and telling him to come down. The security guards had already come in as well, but the man wouldn’t budge. 

“He’s planning on killing himself” Luhan said.

More screams were heard when the man jumped off. In a flash, Yifan ran to the railings and jumped off as well, catching the man just in time before he reached the second floor. The man looked at him, shocked and unable to say anything as they landed on the ground floor. 

Yifan slowly backed away. “Watch yourself now. It isn’t worth it to end your life like this” he said. 

“Wh-where’s my suitcase?” the man asked. Yifan didn’t answer, but they looked up, seeing that his suitcase was floating in mid-air, and Luhan was nearby, with his hand outstretched. 

It was only then that Yifan and Luhan noticed that the whole place had gone silent. Everyone had seen it. Some had their phones out to take photos and videos of the whole thing. “We need to go” Minseok muttered. 

The suitcase then dropped to the ground, and the three of them fled the scene. 

But among those people, a man in a hood scrolled through his phone, looking at the photos and the video he took of the whole thing, and underneath his hood, his eyes turned yellow. 

~ 

“We’re dead, we’re so dead. What will Ino hyung and Professor Jang think? We got caught!” Minseok panicked in the car on their way home. It was one of the rare times he lost his cool, no pun intended. 

Yifan turned a corner, as they headed for the hostel. “It would really be useful for us to have someone who can control minds, right?” he said, a little flustered about what just happened as well. 

“If you’re talking about me, I can’t do that” Luhan argued, fumbling with his thumbs. The three of them were already thinking of the possible situations that could happen after an incident like that. They could go viral on the internet, they would go on the news, and worse, people would come after them. “But it’s not like we did a bad thing..you saved the guy from killing himself in front of dozens of people” he turned to Yifan. “And I..I well, I kept his briefcase intact” 

Yifan nodded, feeling a little more at ease. “You prevented another accident from happening when you caught it” he did the same for Luhan. 

“Still, how are we going to explain this to Ino and the Professor? Those people would think you’re Superman or something” Minseok said. 

They had soon entered the driveway, the gates opening one by one to let the car in, and Yifan drove towards the garage, which looked way smaller on the outside. 

Parking on the empty space next to two other similar looking cars, the three of them got out, and ran inside the building. 

The garage entrance immediately led them to another elevating platform, and they lowered themselves down to the floor where their training rooms were. Soon enough, after getting off, Ino had appeared, coming out of Jongdae’s training room. “Ino..” they mouthed, the closer the older male got. 

“Did you three have fun at the mall?” he suddenly asked. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did” the three of them answered, nodding profusely. 

Ino raised a brow. He’s known the three of them long enough to tell whether something was up. That, or it was yet another one of the weird things he had been experiencing lately. “..Did something happen at the mall then?” he then said. 

Uh oh, we’re caught, Luhan thought. But he could suddenly tell that Ino had already known what happened, and that he just wasn’t sure if he was right. “Yifan saved a man from killing himself” he answered quietly. 

“Really? That’s a great thing you did!” Ino patted Yifan on the arm. 

“He flew in” Minseok look down as he said it, and Ino’s face fell, not out of anger or disappointment, but more on worried. 

“We’re so sorry but we just wanted to help. We didn’t mean to expose ourselves like that. It was rash on our parts” Luhan bowed apologetically. 

Ino shook his head. It was bad that they were seen using their powers in a public place like that, but it was even worse to apologize for trying to save someone from getting killed. They didn’t deserve that, he thought, even if the world may think that they were freaks. He then realized that it was why the Center was built in the first place, and why they decided to track these people down to get them to come in. However, he suddenly thought of a solution. “You don’t have to apologize. I will sort it out” he assured the three. 

They couldn’t believe their eyes. “R-really?” Minseok asked. 

“Yep. Junhong,” Ino suddenly said, pressing his earpiece. “We’re in a bit of a code violet situation as of the moment..Yeah, the accidental use of powers outside..turn the key and access the photos and videos from the incident all over the internet and in those cloud accounts and delete them, delete them all..thank you” Upon noticing the expressions of the three, he quickly knew it as a sign to explain. “We don’t use that much. In fact we rarely use Code Violet. Junhong’s figured out a way to hack in stuff, well, he got help from the others, but it’s under lock and key, and even the key’s under guard”

There were still things about the Center that the recruits had no knowledge of. This kind of action was one of them. The Center still upheld an image of being secret, or being virtually unknown to everyone. It was just as important to live in anonymity as it was to sort out disturbances of another kind. 

“You three, meet the rest in the communal training room. Yongguk will be there to brief you all about what’s going to happen when you all train there” Ino said. The three obeyed and rushed off. 

Ino looked down. It was as if it was somehow getting worse, what he had been experiencing. He pressed into his earpiece again. “Junhong? Yes, I need to talk to you about something” 

~

The hooded man from the mall, had rushed to a dark corner once he was outside, and transformed back into the Prince, who had seen the whole thing. Jumping into a manhole, he quickly made his way back into the depths of the Esteholm, and into the chamber that he had turned into his fortress. His army worked quickly, quick enough to secure every nook and cranny, every unoccupied space they could break into. 

Walking amongst his warriors, he went to the group of goblins who made the weapons, a few of them had skills in mixing together substances. “I have found a way to be able to take the diamond from my father” he declared in front of them. 

“How, your highness?” one of them said. 

“Ejol’s blood has given you life, and I will bestow you all with powers later on. I found these humans above, who can fly, and levitate things” 

The group exchanged looks with each other. “Powers, your highness?” 

“Yes. It will be their abilities that will give us the force we need to take over the world above, as well as for me to reclaim the diamond from the Tree of Life” the Prince replied. “Humans have no knowledge of such things, they are filled with greed and vanity. They don’t deserve this earth” 

The warriors agreed with a resounding cheer. 

“I will find a way to give all of you those powers, don’t worry. The blood of a soldier woke all of you up from your eternal slumber, giving all of you strength, speed, and the ability to fight,” the Prince returned to the center of the room, noticing that everyone had soon stopped to listen to him. “In time, you will all be very powerful, and you will all join me in conquering this world” 

The goblin warriors all cheered again, and went back to work. Prince Zeenohai turned to Ejol. “My loyal guard, we must return to my father. He needs to know a few things I have started doing. If necessary, I will kill him” 

“Yes, your highness” 

~ 

“Speak of the devils, and they shall appear,” Baekhyun said with a grin once they saw Minseok, Luhan, and Yifan enter the communal training room. It was bigger compared to the others, and darker than what Baekhyun was usually accustomed to. It was the size of a gymnasium. “Where have you three been?” 

“We went to the mall” Luhan replied, suddenly getting in line upon noticing that all the boys, including Hyejung and Mirae, were all in formation. Yongguk stood in front of them. 

“Where’s Jinri? Is she not joining us?” Yongguk suddenly asked. 

“She said she isn’t ready yet. I think Junhong’s helping her out for now” Jongdae answered. 

Yongguk nodded, taking it as a sign to start. “So, let me start off by saying that I’m probably sure you guys were all excited to do something like this,” he paced back and forth in front of them. “Girls,” he eyed Mirae and Hyejung. “Ino hyung, the professor, and Junhong as well as the 5 of us, have already been talking about doing something like this for a long time. While you are trained to channel your abilities properly, it only makes sense to try and use them in situations which can be deemed unfavorable to all of you” he explained. 

He gestured to the booth above, where Himchan and Youngjae were, looking over them. “I believe the M unit has already gotten their hands on our latest pistols from their mission earlier,” he said, eyeing the 6, Jongdae, Zitao, and Yixing were still wearing their tactical uniforms, pistols in the holsters. “The rounds contain a type of acid that is extremely corrosive, it could melt away this whole room if you poured it on by the bucket, and even the bucket would melt as the acid could only be contained by the glass containers we have at the lab” Yongguk said. 

Daehyun and Jongup soon came in, carrying belts containing the same pistols and some extra rounds. “Everyone, from now on, has a belt,” as Yongguk explained, Daehyun and Jongup handed the extra rounds to Jongdae, Zitao, and Yixing. “In time, you will have some additions to that belt of yours, try not to lose it, alright?” he asked. 

“I’m nervous, but I’m so excited” Baekhyun suddenly said. 

“This all sounds so badass” Jongdae commented excitedly. 

Yongguk smiled. “Now, since we all know your powers, including Hyejung’s and Mirae’s, and with the exception of Mirae, who already has something with her,” he eyed the rod she was holding. “The rest of you will be getting things to well, help you into fully unleashing your abilities in an unfavorable situation. This kind of training will not only teach you to be vigilant, it will also teach you how to work as a team, now that the girls have joined us” he explained. “So, any questions so far?” 

Junmyeon raised a hand. “I have one. So, are we going to start shooting up this place, whatever this is?” he said. 

“Not quite. We have prepared a very realistic simulation training for you all,” Yongguk pointed to the dark part of the room in front of them. “In minutes, you will find yourselves in a different place, whether it’s a minefield, or during an apocalypse, or something similar. There will be entities that will attack you, and your job is to work together to overcome it” he explained. 

“Use what you have, and think quickly” Daehyun reminded them, before the three walked off and into the control room. 

“This is so creepy” Zitao said, reloading his gun with the extra rounds. 

“Ready, Mirae?” Luhan said to her, and Mirae nodded. 

“Are you scared? Because I am” Hyejung whispered to Jongin. 

Jongin turned to Hyejung. “I’m just as scared as you are” 

“Good, because I might need you to hold my hand too while we’re at it” she joked. 

In a matter of moments, their surroundings began to change. In a swirl of colors, they were soon standing in the middle of a run down metropolis. Buildings were deserted, the streets were empty, and no one else was there except for the 14 of them. Despite it being a simulated environment, it all felt so real. 

“Junhong and the hyungdeul have really outdone themselves in this one” Sehun quietly commented, as all of them started walking forward. 

“I’ll, uh,” Yifan looked around, taking his gun out. “I’ll check the view from above, maybe Jongin can pop into random places, see if there’s anything odd” he suggested before taking to the air, hovering above them before going any higher. 

“I’ll help out” Hyejung suddenly said. Jongin turned to her and smiled. Hyejung stopped and with a wave of her hand, a portal suddenly appeared, revealing another part of the city. She jumped in, and Jongin took it as a signal to teleport. 

“How does Junhong even come up with the technology for this?” Kyungsoo said in disbelief as they continued walking. 

“The professor didn’t call him a genius for nothing” Chanyeol said. 

“This really is a step up from our training rooms” Jongdae said. He turned to the others who remained. “We have to split up” 

Luhan suddenly felt a chill down his spine as he looked around. “Something’s here. Not very far” he suddenly said. 

“We need to scatter, I saw something,” Jongin suddenly appeared in front of them. “Something black, and scary, like a giant alien thing” he explained. 

“That’s what I was suspecting too” Luhan said. “I could hear a growling not far from here” 

Junmyeon nodded. “Okay, everyone else, split up. Maybe two at a time?” 

They all nodded at each other and started scattering in different directions. Baekhyun and Chanyeol ran towards an intersection, Minseok and Luhan went in one building, Yixing in an abandoned shop, Jongdae and Mirae ran to another street, and so did the rest. 

Mirae took deep breaths as she looked around, brandishing her staff. “I saw you the other time, practicing. You’re really powerful” Jongdae said to her. 

She offered a half-smile. “Thanks. But I can’t control my abilities completely yet”

Jongdae smiled back. “That’s what this room is for” and all of a sudden, his eyes turned white as electrical currents started to come out from his hands. He turned around. “Keep your guard” 

“That’s not hard to do” Mirae took another deep breath to calm herself. Her heart was pounding in her chest, as she waited for what was about to come. The growling grew louder, and the ground rumbled under their feet. 

Hyejung came out of a portal to the rooftop of a building where Sehun and Zitao were. “Can’t we just turn back time?” Zitao suddenly asked. 

“Then it won’t be fun, and we won’t be able to practice” Sehun replied. 

“When the things come, I can help either one or both of you get a closer shot at killing them, or at least incapacitate them” Hyejung said. 

The two younger boys nodded. “Think you can bring up a tornado?” Zitao asked Sehun, who just shook his head. 

“Not at the moment, I mean” 

All was quiet. Yifan was hovering over the whole city, his hand poised on his gun. And from the corner of his eye, he could see black creatures, running from one side, and then another from the other side. The black creatures looked like a cross between an orc and a squid, with slimy tentacles for fingers and toes. “What are these things?” he muttered, taking his gun out, quietly gliding through the air until he was right above them, anticipating what they’ll be doing.   
“Junhong, what are these things?” 

From the sky, they could suddenly hear Junhong’s voice. “Those are..well.. We don’t know what they are. But know that they’re not easy to take down” he said. 

“It’s like the voice of God” Yixing said from where he was. He reached down and put his palm on the floor. Closing his eyes, he stayed still, concentrating on what he was about to do. The concrete suddenly cracked open, and out came a sprout, which eventually became a flower. 

The higher he raised his hand, the higher the flower grew, the vines slowly crawling out from under the ground. “Wow” he muttered. “Junhong, if you’re seeing this, please take note” 

“Got it, Xing. Keep a look out” Junhong said from the sky. 

The rumbling grew louder, and before anyone of them could say anything, an army of black creatures started to run towards them from different directions. 

Junmyeon screamed in surprise and held up his hands, jets of water started to come out, shooting at the creatures in front of him. 

It was almost the same with both Minseok and Chanyeol. Chanyeol’s metal bracelet started to glow orange, and in seconds, he shot flames at the oncoming creatures in front of him. The more he did it, the stronger the flames, until his whole body was covered in fire. Minseok ran out of the building and held up his hand, shooting ice crystals and freezing the creatures that were running toward them. He glanced at Luhan. “Run!” he shouted, freezing the others that would go past him with his other hand. 

“How exactly do you mean by they can’t be taken down easily?!” Luhan shouted, as he ran to another street, looking flustered and wide-eyed at the number of creatures that were running towards him. “Focus, focus, focus” he muttered, and stood still, holding up his hand, palm outwards. 

His eyes were shut tight. He was prepared to run and collide with the enemies that were coming their way, until. 

Another swirl of colors later, and the surroundings changed again. Luhan opened his eyes and noticed that they were already in different parts of the room. “What happened?” he asked. 

“Sorry! Sorry! There was a little technical issue when it comes to phasing in and out of surroundings,” Junhong quickly spoke on the microphone. “If we didn’t catch it sooner, you guys would have been stuck in there” 

Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae groaned, and so did Zitao and Hyejung. Yifan landed, putting his pistol away. “And to think we were starting to look cool” Chanyeol said. 

“A lot of us weren’t able to use our powers even” Yixing added. 

“Sorry, sorry. Go take a break and get some rest. We’ll just call you in when this room’s fully operational” Daehyun spoke this time. 

~ 

Jinri was down at the lab where she had met with Junhong. She was watching Youngjae and Himchan mix different colored liquids and transferring them into a single glass tube. “What’s that?” she suddenly asked, making the two look. 

“An antidote” Himchan answered, carefully pouring the blue colored liquid into the tube. 

“An antidote for what?” 

“Infernal bites. Goblin bites, all kinds of bites” Youngjae replied. 

Jinri raised a brow. “Goblin bites, infernal bites? What are those?” she asked. 

Himchan and Youngjae exchanged looks before turning back to her. “You superhumans aren’t the only unusual creatures walking among the earth” Himchan said. “The M unit came back with an infernal sample. Yifan got bitten but luckily Yixing healed him,” he began to explain. “Infernals aren’t poisonous, but their bites, especially on humans or on other creatures, can sting like hell” 

“Oh, so like a spider bite or insect bite?” She watched Youngjae look through each test tube. 

“Yeah, but infernal bites are worse. There was this dwarf that we took in, may he rest in peace,” Youngjae started to explain. “That got bitten by an infernal. We basically had to cut it out” he cringed at the memory. 

“If you want to know about poisonous bites, don’t let a goblin bite you” Himchan commented. “They have venom sacs on their tongues and they can spit acid at will” 

“Spit acid? But..didn’t we get guns with acid rounds?” Jinri asked, rather confused. 

“You know what they say, fight acid with acid” Youngjae joked. “But, really. We’re not saying all of you will have to fight off whatever that comes at our kind, but it’s just best to be prepared. It’s why you’re all training to use your powers not only properly, but to your advantage as well” he then explained. 

“So, you’re training us to fight?” Jinri looked even more confused. 

“We’re training you to use your powers properly” Himchan answered this time, handing her the belt with her pistol in it. 

“But why should we fight when we mean no harm?” Jinri asked. 

“Because sometimes, even when we mean no harm, we end up having to fight anyway” Himchan said. 

Jinri nodded. “I’m still very much confused” 

“You managed to confuse us too, with all your questions” Youngjae suddenly commented, getting a nudge from Himchan. 

Himchan sighed. “Jinri. When exactly did you find out you had powers?” he asked her. “What emotion was present when it came out?” 

Jinri looked down. “I felt… scared, and angry.. Like I just wanted to go away” she said. 

“Usually, for people like you, the powers come out when you’re either angry or scared, and most of the time it’s a combination of both,” Youngjae started. “So we’re here to not only help you control your powers and use them for good, we’re also trying to help you in channeling your emotions better, especially in cases where you’ll feel angry and or scared” 

Just then, Daehyun and Jongup appeared. “What happened?” Himchan suddenly asked upon seeing them. 

“First time in simulated training was unsuccessful, the thing that phases the recruits into various situations was a little faulty so Junhong had to stop everything to get it fixed” Daehyun explained. “Shouldn’t you be with Junhong?” he turned to Jinri. 

“I was supposed to be but he had to attend to you guys” she answered. 

“But how was it so far?” Youngjae asked, a little hopeful to hear some results. 

“So far it was going great.. Although it doesn’t really help that the creatures only just started to come at them. Chanyeol, Junmyeon, and Minseok did great, so did Yixing. Yifan, Jongin, and Hyejung worked well too” Jongup said with a nod. “The others just hadn’t had a chance to use their powers yet, especially Mirae. I thought she’d use hers the moment they started coming” he added. 

~ 

The doors of the royal goblin court burst open, and Prince Zeenohai entered, followed closely by Ejol. “Father, I have returned!” he said proudly. 

King Taule and Princess Bome watched him make his way to the front, the rest of their kingdom’s subjects staring at him in shock. “What brings you back here, son?” the king asked. 

“Your highness” Tarav suddenly bowed at him. 

“Why, I have come back to merely inform you that I have found what I have been searching for” the Prince said with a simper. “I know where the diamond is hidden, and this means I shall take over your place” he said. 

Princess Bome stood up. “Brother, please. You do not have to do this” 

“I’ve spent most of my life, sleeping in the sewers!” the prince snapped, and all fell silent. “I am done waiting. I have waited long enough, to get the diamond and to take my rightful place as king above and below” 

“If you do this,” the king said. “Then so be it. Kill me if you see it fit, but I will tell you that you will only become just as power-hungry as the humans you have so chosen to fight against” he said. 

“I am only fighting for what is rightfully ours,” Prince Zeenohai snapped his fingers. “And what is rightfully, mine” he growled, sending Ejol sprinting towards the front, and, in a flash, slitting the throats of the king, the princess, Tarav, and the guards who were standing by. 

He turned around to the rest. “Bow to your new king. Object and my guard will make sure you have the same fate as my own father and my sister” he said. The rest instantly bowed. 

The prince turned back to the dead bodies before him. He picked up the crown from King Taule’s head and put it on himself. “As your new king, I am determined to reclaim the world above. For us to be the ruling race, and we will do it now” 

And in the middle of the night, Ino woke with a start, in a pool of cold sweat. “Oh my god” he said, a little out of breath. 

He got out of bed, and traveled down to Junhong’s room. Quietly knocking on the door, he waited for him to answer. 

“Ino hyung? It’s midnight” Junhong said sleepily. 

“I know, I know, but I need to tell you something. It’s something I’ve been experiencing for a while, and it’s been happening more lately” he said. 

Junhong had let him in, and he started to explain everything. “Just now, I had a dream, that felt so real” Ino said. “It was as if something was happening at the moment, and it’s starting to freak me out” he added. 

“Hyung,” he managed to say. “I think you need to get some rest” 

“Junhong, I’m serious. Lately, we’ve felt tremors, right? I’m not making it up, this dream of mine, it was as if I knew what was going to happen to us, to everyone” Ino said. “I suddenly knew where Yifan, Minseok, and Luhan were even when they didn’t tell me they went out” he said. 

Junhong just nodded. “We’ll need to get a sample of your blood too, but can we do it tomorrow? Or later on today? It’s midnight” 

“Junhong, I can’t wait, I have to know what’s my situation” Ino said. 

“Hyung, it’s so late, can’t we just-” Junhong’s mouth fell open when his glasses were slowly moving away from his face. 

“See?!” Ino pointed to the floating spectacles in front of them. 

Junhong slowly nodded. “Hyung, stop stressing about it. It could only mean that you’re a late bloomer.. A real late bloomer” he then managed to explain. “So you may have telekinesis too, and perhaps an ability to also see what’s happening somewhere else and even the future” he said. 

Ino fell silent. “So what’s going to happen? What am I going to do? This just means... “ his eyes widened. “Oh no, something’s going to happen and I don’t know what to do” 

“What do you mean? You mean to say you saw something that could happen?” 

Ino nodded. “I saw, I saw.. Goblins”


	10. Nine: The Explosion

Nine: 

A few days later, Mirae took a cab to a place she had since wanted to come back to. The place where she came from. She had gotten permission from Ino to go out, and seeing that the Professor had not been back for some time now, she figured that Ino had probably been worrying about where his father had gone off to. Ino was a little worried about her as well, but Mirae was quick to assure him that her staff was in the sling bag that she had with her. She got down in the corner of the street where she lived, and started walking down until she reached the place. 

Mirae stopped in front of a music store, a familiar looking one, with the doors and windows plastered with posters and photocards of the trendiest singers of today, most of them were of boy groups, and she knew people were flocking from every direction, coming out with armfuls of cds and posters and whatever freebies that came with it. As usual it was busy, and she pondered on whether to go in and say hi to the owners. The owners of the shop in particular, were the ones that took her in when she ran away all those years ago. They raised her, put her through school, and were like the parents she had always dreamed of having. She thought of repaying them by not pursuing a college education to help them out, work in the store. 

However, there was someone else she also wanted to see. Hyuk. The guy she had always liked, whom she also worked with in the store. Mirae thought he might not want to talk to her after suddenly leaving the store and the house above it to work somewhere else without telling him. They were friends, after all. 

Seeing as the place was a little too crowded, she didn’t go in, and instead reminded herself to come back and say hi to them next time, all the while promising to email them every night from now on. For now, she thought of going around, see the city she felt like she hadn’t seen in a long time since she started training in the Center. Mirae turned to walk down the street some more, and after crossing one to get to another, she saw a big crowd in the corner. An event was being held, and judging from the music she was hearing, it was a little concert. A contest, with prize money involved, from what she saw on the tarpaulin that hung behind the stage. Intrigued, while at the same time hearing a very familiar voice, Mirae walked towards the crowd, going in, to see who was singing on the stage, and that was when she knew. 

It was Hyuk, on stage, singing a very familiar song that she remembered him writing while they were hanging out after hours one time when the store remained open late at night. Mirae smiled, trying not to mouth the words from where she stood in order to attract attention. She remembered the song very well. 

But that didn’t seem to work either, as she soon caught Hyuk’s attention. It was safe to say that he was a little surprised and happy that he saw her, and he continued singing until the end, glancing at her in case she would leave. And once he was done, Mirae was surprised at what the MC of the event had said. “Please give a warm round of applause to Dean! That was a good performance, wasn’t it?” he said, with Hyuk bowing a few times before leaving the stage. 

Mirae turned to leave, walking to another direction from the stage, until she felt someone grab her wrist, making her turn around. 

“Mirae?” 

Hyuk was standing behind her, the look of surprise still etched on his face. “I can’t believe it. Mirae, Lee Mirae is here right in front of me” he said, a smile soon appearing on his lips. 

“You don’t look so bad yourself, Kwon Hyuk” she said with a small smile, chuckling as she was pulled into a tight hug. “Or should I call you Dean now? Wow, you really went through with that, huh?” she said upon pulling away. 

Hyuk smiled, nodding. “Yeah, I figured it would be a good side thing, you know? I mean I couldn’t leave the store, especially when your parents have been so nice” he said. “Plus, I don’t know about you but, I have a feeling I’m going to win this contest” he said, tilting his head to the stage. 

Mirae nodded as well. “I know you will. You’ve always had talent. Tell you what, if you win, you buy me a meal, and if you don’t, it’s my treat, how does that sound?” she teasingly suggested. 

“Deal. But, just stay here, okay? I don’t want you suddenly disappearing after what you did to me a few weeks ago” he teased, feigning sadness. 

His words gave her butterflies, and Mirae fought the urge to smile the biggest smile she could ever show. “I-I will, I have free time today, that’s why I’m out” she said. 

“Great” he smiled at her, then ran back to the stage, where they had started to call everyone who entered the competition. 

~

At the same time, at the Center, the lights were starting to flicker and the tremors growing stronger. “What is going on?” Luhan looked up from his seat in the cafeteria. 

“Kyungsoo must be getting stronger, if it’s like this” Jongin said. 

“I’m right over here” Kyungsoo called out from another table. “And it’s not me” 

“If it’s not you, what’s causing this? Last night I couldn’t sleep because the lights were flickering” Hyejung said, grabbing the backrest of the chair for support as she carried a tray full of food to the table in the midst of the ground rumbling. 

“I think we should see what Junhong and the others could find” Minseok suggested. 

They all turned to both Jongin and Hyejung. Hyejung nearly dropped her chopsticks. “Oh alright, I’ll see what they’re up to” she said, standing up and with a wave of her hand, jumped into a portal. Jongin had also teleported, leaving the rest of them stopping to observe what was happening. 

“Do you guys think these tremors and why the lights are flickering are because of something else?” Jinri suddenly asked. 

Jongdae turned to her. “You think there might be something there?” he said. 

She shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. It’s probably why the Professor hasn’t been back here since he left” she said. 

The rest of the males turned to her. “The Professor hasn’t been back yet?” Junmyeon asked. “Hang on, how would you know?” 

A sheepish grin slowly appeared on her face. “The guys talk. Junhong is still helping me out and I hear things from them” she said. 

Just then, a portal appeared and out came Hyejung, followed by Junhong, the portal vanishing when both of them were out. “Wow, that was cool. I’ve never been included much in something like this, so I’ll definitely take note of it” Junhong said in amazement. 

“Junhong, what’s going on? Why have the lights been flickering all over lately?” Jongdae asked. 

Junhong jumped a little in surprise when Jongin suddenly appeared. “Well, there’s something here. I guess this was what Ino hyung was saying about what he’s seen..” he mumbled, looking down as he remembered. 

Their ears perked up at what he said. “What did he see? What’s going on with Ino hyung?” Baekhyun asked. 

“Lately, there have been some disturbances that have been occurring, and we’re starting to think it’s tied in with the break in at the museum” Junhong explained. “What Zitao saw before, about someone mentioning a diamond, and all that, it’s all related” he said.

“That diamond must be very valuable, if they were so determined to break into the museum” Minseok suddenly said. 

“It is. Ino hyung read that the diamond in question can make the bearer invincible. It’s the diamond in the Tree of Life” Junhong said. 

“I read about that!” Luhan stood up. “The diamond had been cut up into two, but it mysteriously made itself whole through the ages and it’s hidden somewhere, being guarded by unknown creatures” he recited what he remembered. 

“There’s more to that” Junhong said. “The diamond, according to the last records, is sentient. It can feel, and that is probably how it made itself whole and known to those who guard it, to those who know its exact location” 

“So what do we do?” Junmyeon asked. 

“We find it” Yifan answered. 

They all stopped and turned to him. “We find the diamond? How do we even start? They’re going to come after us and kill us” Junmyeon argued. 

Yifan shrugged. “Is that not why we’re staying here in the first place? We’re all so excited about training in the communal room but when a real situation strikes, you’re backing away? Come on guys” 

“But goblins! Killing! Us! Them! Yifan hyung, we still don’t know what we’re dealing with out there” Baekhyun said. 

“Still! I propose we find it. Whatever it takes to get a headstart. If it’s with us, then rest assured that we can defend it or something” Yifan suggested. 

Jinri put her fork down. “Oppa’s right. If we’re here, might as well use what we’ve learned to get them before they go after anyone and everyone else” she nodded in agreement. 

Before they could say anything, Ino appeared at the entrance, and behind him was Professor Jang. “Professor! You’re back!” Junhong said, walking up to him while the rest followed. 

“Yes, yes. I apologize for being away for so long. A lot of things happened while I was arranging some things” Professor Jang smiled at each of them. “Someone’s not here?” he asked. 

“Oh, uh, Mirae. She’s out somewhere” Ino answered. 

“Well, Ino has put me up to speed with you three girls,” the professor turned to Jinri and Hyejung. “Very impressive, you three” he said, nodding approvingly. “Well, if you will excuse me, I must get some rest. The whole trip wore me out, it seems” he said, before Hyesung escorted him down the hall, leaving Ino behind. 

Ino turned to the rest. “Junhong’s told us about what’s probably happening lately” Junmyeon suddenly said. 

“I figured he did” he nodded. “And,” he paused, closing the cafeteria doors behind him. “I have a very strong feeling that my father’s the one guarding it” Ino said with slight hesitation. “I don’t know how it came to that, but ever since I was a kid, he always used to go away for a while then come back without saying where he went or what he did. My mother always knew, but she wouldn’t tell me either” 

“What do you think we should do, hyung? Yifan suggested we look for it” Luhan said. 

Ino looked at all of them, and slowly nodded, remembering the dream he had. “That’s what we do. We should look for it, before anyone and everyone else gets hurt” he said. He turned to Junhong. “We’re going to need a quick scan everywhere, see if there’s something unusual. CCTV footage, anything” 

“Well, since you said that, the guys and I have actually taken the liberty of doing so. There was some footage of a hooded person seemingly sucking the neck of this guy. Blood everywhere, so I guess there’s that. Somewhere downtown” Junhong said. 

We’ll need to take a look at the place. This time, the K unit will be brought in” Ino glanced at Junmyeon, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Jongin, and Sehun. “K unit, suit up and assemble at the garage at about, 20 minutes?” he asked, and the boys nodded. “Good” 

Jinri and Hyejung exchanged looks. “Oppa, what about Jinri and I? What can we do?” Hyejung asked. 

“We could always use another person to be with us” Jongin raised a hand. 

“Well, 6 is already a lot, but you, Jinri, and Mirae will be dispatched next, I can assure you” Ino said to the two girls. “You’ll find your uniforms in your closets, though. For the meantime, continue with your training. I think your rooms are already built?” The two girls shook their heads. “Oh, well, just continue training either way. Maybe start in the communal one” he suggested. 

“Yes, Ino” Jinri and Hyejung nodded, while they watched the 6 rush out of the cafeteria, Ino and Junhong following them close behind. 

~ 

Meanwhile, Mirae and Hyuk were at a pizza place, indulging in their food. “Congratulations, Kwon Hyuk, on winning that contest” Mirae held up her can of soda at him from across the table. 

Hyuk held his up as well. “And for winning that prize money, almost a million won, hmm?” They clinked their cans and went back to eating. “Good enough for scoring a record deal, right?” 

“Yeah, definitely” Mirae nodded, in between bites of her pizza. “Also good enough for a meal like this” she said. 

“We did have a deal, If I won, I’d buy you a meal, and I won, so we have a meal before us” Hyuk said proudly. 

Mirae smiled. For a while she was still getting used to living in the center, but seeing Hyuk again made things feel comfortable and familiar again. From suddenly discovering what she was and what she could do, this was something she needed more than anything at the moment. “So, what do you do now that was suddenly better than working at your parents’ music store?” Hyuk teased.

“I work at the Ilsan Youth Hostel. It’s a different job, the pay’s the same, and they also offer room and board” Mirae quickly replied, a little surprised at herself for doing so. She couldn’t really say that she was training to control and properly use her powers in a center for people like them disguised as a youth hostel. 

“A youth hostel? That’s great. Must be nice living the hostel life” Hyuk said. 

Mirae shook her head. “Nothing beats home above the shop, you know?” she said. “...How are they? My parents, I mean?” she then asked.

Hyuk nodded. “They’re great. They miss you a lot, they ask me about you often since you left, in case you and I kept in touch” he said. 

“Oh.. and what did you say?” Mirae put her drink down. She was curious on what Hyuk had said, a little hopeful that it would give her a hint of what he thought of her. 

He put his drink down as well. “I told her that you were probably trying to adjust to life over there where you are, and,” he paused. “That I also missed you,” he said. “A lot, since you left” 

Mirae tried not to smile so wide at what he said. “I um,” she started with a nervous chuckle. “I miss you all a lot too. Maybe next time I’ll drop by and say hi. I think I’ve adjusted well or something to my work life” she said. 

“Oh you should. At least while I’m not on a lunch break” Hyuk laughed. “Or maybe if I am on a lunch break so we could talk some more” he suggested. 

A few moments later, they were walking down the street again. “It’s really great seeing you again, Lee Mirae” Hyuk smiled at her. 

“Same for you, Kwon Hyuk” She said, smiling back at him. “I’m glad I got to run into you today” 

Hyuk looked down for a moment, then looked at her again. “Mirae, I should probably tell you something” he said. 

Mirae looked at him with wide eyes, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering like crazy. “Y-yeah?” 

“I-well, I.. I-uh,” he started, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’ve-well we’ve.. Known each other for a long time, right?” he said. 

Mirae was trying her hardest not to assume that what he would say wasn’t what she was trying to avoid thinking about. “Y-yeah, we have. We’ve worked together for years, we celebrated your coming-of-age day together, remember?” she said, trying to play it cool. 

“Of course I remember, and that’s related to what I really want to say,” Hyuk tried to piece his words together. “I,” he took a deep breath. 

“Yes?” Mirae asked. 

“What I really wanted to say, and have wanted to say for a while is that,” Hyuk stopped in front of her. “Lee Mirae, I-” 

Mirae’s eyes widened. “Get away!” she instantly pulled him to the side, the two of them falling over on the ground as the jewelry store next to the cafe they were standing in front of exploded, sending shards of glass and debris everywhere. 

The cars that were passing by stopped and everyone in the surrounding places stepped out to witness what just happened. 

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Mirae looked at Hyuk, who was next to her. Hyuk shook his head, still in shock. “Oh good” she said, getting up on her feet, until she felt a little sting on her arm. Looking at it, she saw that a shard had cut through her jacket, slicing her arm. Her eyes widened at what she saw next, as the cut had ended up healing itself. She turned back to Hyuk, who was dusting himself off. 

Hyuk had spotted the blood stain on her jacket. “Are you hurt?” he asked, worry evident in his voice. 

Mirae shook her head, although she couldn’t explain to him outright what just happened to her arm. “It’s just a cut, it’s nothing serious” she managed to say. They looked back at the scene, seeing the fire trucks and the police cars arrive, firemen getting out to put out the flames that engulfed the interiors of the whole store. 

“Are you sure? I see blood on there” He said, taking her arm and looking at it, his eyes then widening when he saw it was gone. “It’s gone… you’re not hurt.. “ he said, in disbelief. 

Mirae didn’t know what to say. “It-It’s a complicated story” she said, pulling her arm back. She wasn’t ready nor did she plan on telling him what she really was. “I-I think I should go” she looked down, not knowing what else to do. 

“What do you mean? Is there something wrong?” Hyuk then asked, glancing at her arm. “Mirae, I can take you back to where you need to be” he said. 

Mirae shook her head and stepped back. “I-I-I can’t tell you now..maybe someday, but, it’s really complicated” she said. “I have to go, Hyuk, it’s really nice seeing you again” and then she ran off. 

“Mirae! Mirae! Is your number still the same?! Mirae!” Hyuk called out as he watched her leave. 

~ 

Yongguk rushed inside Ino’s office. “Ino hyung, there have been reports of a jewelry store explosion not far from here” he said. “I feel like it would be related to what we’re looking for” 

Ino stood up at the news and led him out of his office and down the hall. “Get the 3 girls together, tell them to suit up, and get Junhong to ready the van this time. Have Daehyun and Youngjae ready the other van for the M unit in case a backup is needed” he said. 

With a nod, Yongguk ran to the elevating platforms and Ino went ahead to his father’s room. He spotted Mirae arriving once he got off the platform to the level above, looking a little shaken. “Mirae, you are needed along with Hyejung and Jinri. There’s been an explosion at a jewelry store” 

“I know, I was there when it happened” Mirae answered. 

“Well..” Yongguk asked. “Did you do it?”

“Of course not, oppa” Mirae shook her head and showed him her arm. “I was taking a walk with my friend when it happened” 

Yongguk took a closer look at her arm. “What happened here?” he asked.

Mirae shrugged. “I don’t know, one moment it was there and then before I knew it, I saw it disappearing, like I just healed myself..” 

Yongguk felt over the spot on her arm. “Not a scar, nothing,” He muttered. “You can heal rapidly” 

“He.. my friend.. He also saw that the cut was gone when we got back on our feet” she said. 

Yongguk nodded. “Well then, it’s time for you to suit up, because you and the girls are going back there” he said, patting her on the shoulder. 

~ 

The bus with the K-unit had arrived at the site later that night, and Junmyeon got down first, followed by Baekhyun and Jongin. “Locators on? Okay, scan the area for..clues, I guess” Junmyeon said to them before scattering. Jongin had teleported in and out of the abandoned buildings they were looking in. 

Chanyeol looked through another building, taking out the small flashlight from his belt, hand poised on his gun as he searched. “Baekhyun, light up the place, will you?” he spoke, pressing his earpiece. 

“I can’t, there aren’t any bulbs. You’d have to be with me if you need some light,” Baekhyun replied. “For the meantime, stick to your flame thing and your small flashlight” 

“I can’t do that either, I’ll melt the flashlight” Chanyeol said, shaking his head and going up a flight of stairs. 

“Focus, guys, focus” Came Junmyeon’s voice from their earpieces. “The body was found right where we got off” 

“That’s what he said” Baekhyun commented, and a loud cackle from Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Jongin could be heard. “I’m just trying to lighten the mood, hyung, come on” he then explained. 

Junmyeon was searching the open spaces of the place, using the detector Junhong had given him as well as the others. “No signs of life, or unusual substances, except for your usual microorganisms found in the ground, and weeds sprouting out” he said, as he pressed on. 

Sehun looked through an alleyway, flashlight in one hand, a detector in the other. “I think I’m seeing something,” he walked out of the alley and into another run-down building. “This must be an old hotel or condominium” he walked down the front hall and up the stairs. “Building 443, that’s where I am” he said. 

“Got it, Hunnie. See anything weird in there so far?” he heard Chanyeol’s voice. 

“Uh,” Sehun stopped in the middle of the staircase, upon seeing blood stains and slashes on the fading and peeling wallpaper. “I see blood. At least I think it’s blood,” he touched the spots, and red soon stained his fingers. Sehun took a little whiff. “Yep, it’s blood, definitely blood. Human? Maybe. Goblin? Possible. But it’s fresh, looks like someone or something’s killed in here very recently” he commented. He looked down, and saw that the blood stains had turned into a trail.

Sehun went up the stairs some more, following the trail, and reached another hallway that was lined with doors, the door at the very end being the fire exit, in which the trail stopped. “Hyungdeul, please come over, I think I may have found something” he said, fitting his detector back into his belt. 

As soon as he said it, Jongin immediately popped up next to him, making the taller one step back in surprise. “Stop surprising me like that!” he said, clutching his chest. 

Jongin laughed. “Sorry, so,” he looked down, seeing the trail of blood that led to the fire exit door. “This is it..” he trailed off, walking down the hall, while looking at the doors on either side. 

“Yeah, but I don’t think we should-” Sehun was cut off when something black came at him, sending him down the stairs. “Jongin!” he shouted, coughing and groaning in pain, before he was pushed down the second flight of stairs. 

The door next to Jongin opened and a creature soon attacked and pinned him down, sending him crashing against the other door. “A goblin!” he shouted, attempting to push it back. The goblin snarled and bared its sharp teeth at him. “Sehun!! Sehun!!” he called out, looking over the stairs. 

Sehun felt a sharp pain on his lower back, and he groaned loudly. He could hear Jongin call his name, and he could also see who pushed him down. It was another goblin, dressed in some kind of armor, and was baring its teeth at him, hissing and ready to pounce again. He couldn’t speak, as he was afraid it might kill him if he did, or if he even made any sudden move. And that was when he figured it out. This was what Junhong and the hyungdeul were telling us about in the training room, he thought. A big gust of wind soon came inside the building, strong enough to push the goblin away while keeping Sehun in place. “Jongin!! Just teleport!!” he shouted, sending the goblin that attacked him towards another part of the building. The heavy wind soon turned into a tornado, and brought the goblin out of the place. 

“Teleport? That’s nice” the goblin spoke, while attempting to strangle Jongin, who was trying to kick it away. 

“That’s-that’s right” Jongin groaned, and soon disappeared from the goblin’s clutches. 

Junmyeon, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun were running down towards the building when they saw a tornado come out of it. “They found a goblin” Kyungsoo muttered, seeing glimpses of black within it. 

“We need to catch it, keep it alive and bring it in for questioning” Junmyeon said, a hand poised over his gun. 

“So, how do we do this?” Baekhyun asked. Jongin then popped up near them with Sehun, the latter limping. 

“I don’t think Sehun can hold that one for long, he’s hurt” Chanyeol said. He walked up to the tornado, and the moment his bracelet started to glow, so did he, until he was engulfed in the flames he created. He turned to Junmyeon and the others. “Someone catch the thing, I’ll take him out of there” 

“Yes, Human Torch” Baekhyun commented. “Kyungsoo can probably do this one” 

Kyungsoo nodded. “Yes, I can” he started to run towards the tornado, and once he reached it, he jumped as high as he could, knocking the goblin out of it, landing into a pile of rubble on the ground with a flaming Chanyeol standing in front of it. 

Just then the goblin that had attacked Jongin jumped out of the second floor of the building, and started running towards Junmyeon and Baekhyun. “Stop right there” Baekhyun and Junmyeon took their guns out and pointed it at the goblin, who fell over on the ground. The goblin instead got up and started running the opposite direction, but fell over once again when Chanyeol cornered him. 

“Is everyone okay?” They heard Hyesung’s voice in their earpieces. 

“Sehun’s injured, he needs medical attention” Jongin said, trying to support Sehun better. 

“We’ll be on our way. Where are all of you?” 

“Uh, right by building number 443, we also caught two, um, goblins, they need to be handled carefully” Junmyeon said this time. 

“We’ll be there” 

~ 

Meanwhile, a van had arrived in front of the damaged jewelry store. Three people sitting in front, Yongguk, Daehyun, and Youngjae, got down and opened the doors. Mirae, Jinri, and Hyejung all got out, adjusting their belts. 

“So, what happened here?” Yongguk handed them each their detectors. 

They all looked at Mirae. “It just exploded, oppa” she explained. “I didn’t do it, as I’ve said, I was walking down here with my friend and we stopped to talk about something and then I pulled him out of the way because it suddenly exploded” 

Hyejung raised a brow. “Him? Is he-” she gave her a knowing look, and giggled when Mirae nodded. 

“Why? What’s with her story?” Jinri looked at Hyejung. 

“I’ll tell you about it later” Hyejung said with a grin, while the three men in front of them still looked confused. “Sorry, you were saying?” she looked at Yongguk sheepishly. 

But Yongguk eventually had caught on. “Oh….okay” he nodded. “Anyway, that’s what Mirae’s witnessed. The police reports say that the store was closed for the day, according to the owner, he closed it early because he had to pick up some new imports. Apparently, it was broken into from the inside. CCTV footage recorded 3 hooded men sneaking into the side of the building, possibly to go through the back entrance” he explained. 

“They were looking for the diamond” Hyejung nodded. 

“Perhaps, as all the diamonds in the store were stolen before the explosion happened” Yongguk nodded as well. 

“Which is good for us, in a way…” Jinri shrugged. “Okay, I guess we can go in” 

The three of them went under the yellow police tape and into the burned down establishment. “Well, the good news for the owner is, the silver, platinum, and gold may be scorched but the jewels still remain intact” Hyejung said, once they scattered around the store. 

“I’d like to think they’ve survived enough heat before they could actually melt. They could probably be pliable now” Jinri took a closer look at the sets of emerald jewelry that were covered in ash. 

Mirae approached the back room and stepped inside. Everything in the back room remained intact, save for the burn marks on the walls and the dust covered jeweller’s torch and other equipment. “We’re going to need Zitao if we really want to find out who did this” she muttered. 

“Hey girls, look at this” Hyejung spotted a missing cabinet from the drawers behind the glass display counters. “Something’s missing” she said. 

Mirae and Jinri went up to her at once. “What is it?” Mirae asked. 

Hyejung bent down to take a closer look. “A missing cabinet. And it looks like someone was in a hurry, part of it’s still back in there” she said. 

“That’s not all,” Mirae spotted something on the wall next to the shelf. 

“What do you mean?” Jinri turned to her this time. 

There was a strange red symbol branded onto the scorched wall. “This. This looks weird. Like a crest or something, you know? Like those royal seals branded on the wax of old timey letters?” she said. 

“Yeah, yeah” Hyejung and Jinri looked at the sign as well. “Do you think it could come from.. Well, those things?” Jinri said. 

“I don’t know, maybe” Mirae signaled Yongguk over. “But we should take note of this. The guys must have found something” she said. 

“What’s going on- Oh” Yongguk stepped inside, and stopped when he saw the symbol. Holding up his polaroid camera, he took a photo. “Did you girls find anything else?” he said. 

“This room is completely blown up, but the back room seems to be intact” Hyejung explained. 

Yongguk went over to check, stepping inside the back room. He inspected the place and looked at the jeweller’s torches and equipment. “You girls are right. The back room is partially intact” he said upon coming back. 

Daehyun soon came in. “We just got a call. The K unit investigated those run down buildings where the body was spotted. And, they have 2 goblins with them for questioning” he reported. 

“Alright, this is it, girls. Time to head back into the Center” Yongguk gestured to the exit. 

Just then, something burst through the back room door, tackling Yongguk and hitting Mirae, sending her flying across the room and hitting the shelf, the shelf falling over her. 

“Mirae! Yongguk oppa!” Hyejung shouted, her eyes wide as she saw what hit them. A black creature, with pointed ears, a pointed nose, and sharp teeth was looking at them. It was wearing a kind of gold plated armor on its chest, arms, and legs. “The diamond” it growled, attempting to come at Daehyun. 

It was soon sent flying across the room and onto the other shelf, the display falling over her. Jinri and Hyejung stood by, watching it. “Oppa, Daehyun, go back in the van, now” Hyejung said. Daehyun quickly helped Yongguk up and rushed out of the store. 

A small explosion was soon heard and Mirae suddenly burst through the structure that fell on top of her, and took her rod out, extending it to a staff. Her pupils were already glowing red. “Superhumans” the goblin grumbled as it got back up on it’s feet and brandished a sword from his armor. 

“Okay, it’s armed, what are we going to do?” Jinri looked at both Hyejung and Mirae. 

“We kill it, of course” Mirae suggested, eyeing the plank of wood by her feet. “Save the armor though. We might need that” she said. 

“Agreed” Hyejung muttered. 

“First, we disarm it, then we kill it. Sounds like a plan?” Mirae asked. 

“You sound so sure” Jinri commented. 

“I’m pissed, that’s why” Mirae picked up the plank of wood. The tips of her fingers glowed red as she threw it upwards and kicked it mid-air, sending the goblin through the wall. The goblin however, didn’t let go of its sword. 

“The Prince will hear about this” it said as it got itself out. 

Hyejung took her gun out. “The Prince?” she said, and started firing bullets at the creature, the rounds barely scratching the surface of the armor it wore. She turned to Jinri. “The Prince” she mouthed, putting her gun back into her belt.

“Prince Zeenohai will hear about this insolence” the goblin was walking towards Hyejung, about to strike, when she disappeared. 

A hand soon appeared in a portal behind the goblin and Jinri blasted the goblin towards the other wall. The portal closed up and the three girls cornered it. “Did he send you to come here?” Hyejung asked. 

The goblin rounded on Mirae again this time, and she instantly blocked his oncoming attack with her staff. “You will never get anything out of me” 

Hyejung scoffed. “I think we already have. You’re just…” she looked through the back door. “You’re stalling..” she created another portal that had the back room on the other side and jumped in. 

“Go with Hyejung, I’ll take this one down” Mirae said to Jinri, who nodded and followed Hyejung through the portal. 

Jinri and Hyejung chased after the two hooded figures that ran out of the back entrance down the street. “How can we even catch up to them, they run so fast!” Jinri said, already sprinting behind Hyejung. 

“When I count to 3, I’m sending you somewhere, you could probably corner them” Hyejung called out. “One, two, three!” she opened a portal and Jinri jumped inside. 

Jinri found herself, to her surprise, standing in front of the two figures, only they were frozen in their places. She looked around and saw Minseok running towards her. 

“Yongguk hyung called us in for backup” he immediately explained to her. “What’s going on?” he asked. 

“I think they were coming back for the other jewels or something. I don’t know why they came back. They were the ones who caused the explosion” Jinri explained, a little out of breath. 

Minseok nodded and turned to the frozen figures, stepping forward to take a closer look. “These are goblins..” he figured out.


	11. Ten: Interrogation

“Where are the others?” Jinri asked, as they looked at the frozen creatures in front of them. 

“At the jewelry store, with Hyejung and Mirae” Minseok answered. “I ran out of here as soon as I could and Hyejung helped me get to you” he said. 

At that same time in the jewelry store, Mirae stepped out, determined to take down the goblin that had been trying to attack them for the past few minutes. “You just don’t quit, do you?” her staff started to emit a red glow, and she bent down, striking him in the chest with an overhead spin. The goblin flew 20 meters away from the scene. 

“Mirae! That’s enough” Luhan went up to her, stopping the goblin from getting any further. “We need to bring that guy in. The K unit’s bringing in 2, or 1, if the other one got killed” he said. Holding up his hand, he closed his eyes and tried to bring the goblin towards them. 

“I-” Luhan’s brows were furrowing as he tried to concentrate. The goblin was slowly coming towards them, skidding on the ground until it was floating a few inches from the ground in front of them. “I got him” he opened his eyes. 

Yifan got down from the bus. “Bring that one in here. Kill the other two, the K-unit’s bringing in two more already” he said. 

“No, no killing” Luhan interjected. “I don’t think we’re ready to do that. I’m not even ready to do that” he said, a little flustered. 

“I’ll be more than happy too, though” Mirae suddenly said, making the two older men look at her. “If it means having to put an end to that one or something…” 

“You are no joke, she’s so scary” Zitao suddenly turned to Yifan, having heard what she said. “Can you really do that?” 

“I..don’t know, but it just decided to throw me against the wall and dropped an entire shelf on me earlier” Mirae explained. 

Youngjae and Daehyun went up to them. “Time to go, before we draw any more attention” Youngjae advised, signaling Luhan to bring in their captive to the bus. “Where’s Minseok and Hyejung? Are they still there?” 

Just then, a portal appeared and Hyejung and Minseok stepped out, holding their guns. “Where’s the two you caught?” Daehyun asked. 

“Well..” Hyejung looked down at the guns in their hands. “Yifan oppa did say to kill the other two” she said. “And while they melted along with the ice, I managed to take a piece of their armor, bearing the symbol we saw inside earlier” she held up the gold fragment in front of them. 

“Well, we’re one step closer to knowing who’s after the diamond, at least. Time to head back, we’ve done all we can” Youngjae advised, and they scattered once again, the girls heading back inside the van, while the boys boarded the bus, Luhan bringing the goblin captive in. 

In the corner of the street, Hyuk had seen the whole thing, and seeing a glimpse of Mirae among them, he started to figure out what she had been doing all this time. 

~ 

“Your highness,” a goblin warrior had rushed inside the royal courtroom, and knelt down in front of the prince. 

“Yes?” Prince Zeenohai sat up. “Do you come with good news?” 

“I have some bad news, my lord” the warrior looked down. 

The change in the prince’s expression was instant. “What is the bad news?” 

“Two of our comrades were killed, three were taken captive. By these group of humans” the warrior informed him. 

The prince sat up, glancing at Ejol, who nodded. “Would these people, these humans.. would one of them happen to know how to fly?” he asked. 

The warrior shook their head. “The one who could move things with their mind, along with a human who could..teleport and a human who could create wind” they hesitantly said. 

“I see” the Prince squeezed the armrest of his throne so hard it broke off and crumbled in his hand. 

“They were all in the same group.. Even the one who could fly was with them” the warrior said. “There are more of them, my lord” 

“And the diamond?” 

“There was none in the place that sells the jewels” 

The prince groaned and broke off the other armrest on his throne. “This cannot be!” he fumed. “What happened to the place you searched?” 

“Burned it down” 

“That seems to be the only feasible thing that has happened. We need that diamond, we need it now” the prince grumbled. 

“My lord, I did see where the humans were coming from. A hostel, Ilsan Youth Hostel was the name” the warrior said, looking down. 

The prince sat up. “A hostel, you say?” and the warrior nodded, while still looking down. “Interesting,” he got up from his throne and went to the middle of the room. “If those humans stay in that place, it would be easier to get to them after all” and an evil grin spread across his face. “Taking over the world above might just happen a little sooner now”

~ 

The three captive goblins were in three separate labs. They were tied down to the chairs and the whole group had scattered to go in each one, questioning them, while Junhong and the rest tried to examine the bits of information they had gathered while on their missions. 

“First of all, we know you blew up the jewelry store, but the question we’re here to ask you, is why?” Luhan asked the tied up goblin. “If you resist, I will not hesitate to put you in your place” he threatened. 

“Your threats are empty” 

Luhan stared at the creature, and all of the objects surrounding them in the lab started to shake from the table. “I didn’t stutter” he said. “Now, tell us, why were you there?” 

“Your puny minds, will never be able to comprehend” the creature spat out, eyeing Mirae, Chanyeol, and Yifan, who were standing by the door. 

“Try us, while we’re being nice, and we are still nice at this point” Mirae said. 

Chanyeol and Yifan looked at her, a little shocked. Chanyeol rubbed his arms at the coldness of her voice and Yifan laughed. “Why are you and Luhan hyung so...like this now? It’s so scary, I’m not used to it” Chanyeol commented, rubbing his arms some more to get rid of the goosebumps he felt. Mirae laughed and nudged him. 

“Human torch, you’re needed in the other room” Luhan suddenly said to him. 

“Really? Says who?” Chanyeol said. 

“Hyejung” Luhan replied. 

Chanyeol nodded and hurried outside, and from the moment the door was open, they could hear electricity zaps coming from the other room. Yifan raised a brow. “Are they electrocuting the other one?” he glanced at Luhan. 

“That, or the wiring in the other room’s faulty” Mirae shrugged, looking outside. 

Luhan, took it as an opportunity. “We’re going to ask again, why did you blow it up? You already took the diamonds in the displays, so why destroy it?” he asked. “If you don’t answer, you might suffer the same fate as the other two. One of them injured our teammate, and you pushed Mirae over here” he said. 

Yifan suddenly went up to him. “Luhan, I think it’s time for you to do something” he nodded. 

Luhan knew what he meant. He looked back at the goblin that was staring at him. “If you’re not going to answer us, then I’ll just have to get it out of you myself” he said. 

He leaned forward, and placed his hands a few centimeters away from the sides of the goblin’s head. Luhan closed his eyes. It was the first time he was going to do something like this, outside of training, just when he had discovered he was also telepathic. And all of a sudden, images had started to come up one after the other. Dozens of goblins gathered around one, dressed in royal garments and carrying a weapon. 

Luhan leaned back and opened his eyes, pulling his hands back and staring at the creature in front of him. “There’s more of you” he said. He looked at Yifan and Mirae, who were waiting. “There are dozens of them. I saw it” 

“But did you see anything else?” Yifan asked. Luhan shook his head. He turned back to the creature and looked at the armor it was wearing. 

“There are more of us,” the creature admitted. “His majesty will come after you now that you have captured us” 

A loud scream came from the other room, followed by sounds of electricity surging. “The other one’s probably dead” Mirae said, picking up one of the scalpels and twirling it in her fingers. 

~ 

In the other rooms, one of the goblins had disintegrated, turning into a pile of ash before Jongdae, Hyejung, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun. “We actually did it” Chanyeol stared at the empty chair, in shock. “We killed someone” 

“To be fair, it wasn’t a human to begin with. Just an annoying creature that at least gave us some answers” Hyejung pointed out. 

“Yifan hyung and Mirae noona were already talking about killing and then this happens” Chanyeol said. 

“What else could we do with it? Take care of it until we release it into the wild or something?” Jongdae asked. 

“But killing” 

“I know, Yeol” Baekhyun nodded. 

“Killing” 

“Yes, Chanyeol” Hyejung said. 

“We killed it” 

“We know” Jongdae, Baekhyun, and Hyejung all said. 

Ino suddenly knocked on the door and stepped inside. “Is everything alright? What happened?” he asked. 

“They killed” Chanyeol replied. 

Ino nodded. “Did you all at least get some answers out of whatever it used to be?” he touched the dust. 

“Yeah. Just that there were more of them and that they wouldn’t stop until they find it” Hyejung explained. 

Ino looked at all of them, stopping at Chanyeol’s shaken expression. “Look, I know this might seem new to you, that we’re finally doing something outside the training rooms. But let’s look at it this way,” he explained. “We’re doing this to protect everyone else, and there’s no better people to do it than all of you” 

It seemed to put the four people at ease. Ino had that effect on them. He was like that big brother that always seemed to know what to do, even when he didn’t know what he was doing. Ino patted their shoulders before leaving, and as the door closed behind him, the four turned to each other. “What do we do now?” Hyejung asked. 

“We just..” Jongdae looked back at the chair. “We’ll just have to clean this up” 

~ 

Ino stepped inside the professor’s room. Compared to the recruits, professor Jang’s room was bigger, and looked more like another library than a bedroom. His library however, was rather special. It contained books, files, and old photos of his time back when the Center had just been founded. Ino remembered all of these, especially the red leather-bound book on his desk. His bed looked like it hadn’t been slept in. 

“Ino, I’m too old for your surprise visits” the Professor suddenly came out from the bathroom. 

Ino just smiled. “Dad, I can’t help it that I’m as quiet as a mouse” he said. “How was your trip?” 

“It was good, nothing special” he replied, sitting down on his bed. “How are the recruits doing? Very well, I hope? On their first ever mission” 

Ino sat down next to him. “Very well. Some of them appear to be very shaken, knowing what their tasks would entail” he said. “But I told them, and maybe myself, that what we’re doing is trying to protect everyone else from the chaos that could come” 

Professor Jang had caught on. “Ino, do you mean to say that you’re-” and Ino slowly nodded. A small smile soon spread across his face. “I’m glad” he leaned in for a hug. 

Ino smiled. “Thank you, dad. I’m still trying to work out what I can do with Junhong. The others don’t know about it yet” 

The professor nodded. “Train well, Ino” 

“Thanks, dad” Ino said. “There’s something I’m curious about” he stood up and went to the desk, opening the red book. 

“What is it?” 

“The diamond of the Tree of Life” 

The professor stared at him. “What about the diamond?” 

“In the book, there’s a passage I read. The diamond became sentient through the ages and has since been kept away in hiding. And it has people, or creatures, in general, guarding it,” Ino explained, the book opening itself up to him, flipping through the pages. 

“That’s all folklore, Ino. It doesn’t mean it’s real” Professor Jang said. 

“But dad, you see, there have been disturbances, and just now, they caught goblins who blew up a jewelry shop. Diamond pieces have been stolen from it,” Ino explained, the book closing by itself. “All my life, I’ve watched you go away for days at a time and then come back without saying anything. Things are getting worse” 

The professor stared at him, and Ino saw the fear in his eyes. 

“Ino, if you knew what I know, then you wouldn’t want to anticipate what’s going to happen” 

~ 

The following week, things had gone quiet once more. They had gone back to practicing and training by themselves, but they hadn’t gone back to training altogether, until Junhong and Ino called on them to come to the communal training room. “Today, there will be no additional weapons, no guns, nothing to help except your powers” Junhong announced, Ino standing by to observe. 

“Are you coming with us, hyung? The simulation is intense” Minseok turned to him. 

“I could, if you all want me to. I’ll stand in as a helpless person” Ino chuckled. 

“It would make the training a little more realistic, hyung” Junhong added. 

“Okay then, count me in” Ino smiled, stepping forward and standing alongside the 15 recruits. 

Junhong made a salute and hurried inside the control booth. “Get yourselves ready!” he said, excitement evident in his voice. 

Without another word, a swirl of colors filled the room and in seconds, they were standing on an island, that was surrounded by a fleet of battleships. In the middle of the island was a building, seemingly a military base. 

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa” Luhan looked around. “How are we going to do this?” 

“Just concentrate” Ino advised, just as amazed at how everything looked so realistic. 

“Hey guys?” Yifan stared at the ships. He could see the ships had their machine guns pointed at them, and faceless, uniformed figures were operating it. 

“This is rather violent, don’t you think? Is it possible to get killed in here?” Jongin asked. “Those things look incredibly big” he saw the machine guns as well. 

“FIRE!!” 

Bullets, or at least it seemed like bullets, started raining down at them, the rest of them immediately scattering. “Ino oppa! Come with me” Hyejung grabbed Ino’s arm, and went through a portal that led to another side of the island. Yifan took to the air, going up as high as he could, a little surprised that he was approximately a few hundred feet above them, in the hopes of the bullets not being able to reach him. 

“I know this isn’t real, but holy hell I am scared” Yixing said as he and Kyungsoo were running through the trees, determined to get to the building. 

“No kidding!” Kyungsoo ran as fast as he could, skidding to a halt when he saw that Yixing was slowing down and catching his breath. “Come on, hyung! We have to get inside!” Grabbing his wrist, he pulled the older male along and carried him on his back, charging through the trees until he stopped in front of a large gate that was twenty feet long. 

Kyungsoo touched the gate, and punched it as hard as he could. He had made a big dent on it, but it wasn’t enough. “What now?” Yixing asked. Kyungsoo didn’t answer and continued punching the dent, and in a matter of moments, he had punched right through. 

“Keep your head down, hyung. It might hurt for you” Kyungsoo advised as he walked back a few meters away. He started running for the dented gate, Yixing ducking for cover as Kyungsoo ran through it, bursting through the gate, and nearly dropping the older male on the ground. 

“We need to get inside. There might be something to fire back to those things” Kyungsoo put Yixing down, and they ran inside. 

In another part of the island, Minseok was running away, his powers in full control. “I don’t know what use my power is against those bullets!” he shouted, avoiding the oncoming rounds just in time. 

“The best you could do is to fire back at them” he heard Luhan’s voice in his head, and he nodded, now knowing what to do. He stopped and turned around, and in a swiping motion, fired small icicles back, hitting the rounds and dropping to the floor. 

“Oh, I did it! I did it!” he cheered, repeating the same motions to shield himself. The more he did it, the more he concentrated on wielding his power, his feet were slowly turning into ice, until he himself was engulfed in it. 

“Well done, Mr. Ice Man” he saw Jinri running past him, giving him a thumbs up before skidding to a halt. 

Minseok smiled and gave a thumbs up back to her. Jinri stood by him and hit the rounds back with a plasma blast, sending it back. “Cool” he said, a little bit in awe. 

“Thanks” Jinri sent more and more bullets back, one blast after another. “Come on, we need to get inside that building. Kyungsoo and Yixing are already there” she said. Minseok nodded and grabbed her hand, Jinri suddenly letting out a yelp, almost letting go. “It’s like holding onto a handful of ice cubes!” 

“Sorry!” Minseok changed back to normal and they kept running. They reached an intersection, and Minseok pulled Jinri towards the path on the left, only to see a helicopter above them, a faceless figure firing rounds down at them. They skidded to a halt and turned back to go the other way. 

Yifan flew past the ships, the helicopter a few feet below him catching his attention. He quietly lowered himself down, hovering on the aircraft’s tail, in an attempt to capture the figure and bring it down to the ground. As he was close enough, being careful not to get hit by the blades, he jumped down and tackled the figure, pulling it out and sending them down to the ground. Yifan climbed inside, and punched the driver a few times, knocking the figure out. He pulled the figure out of the seat as well, and kicked it out of the helicopter. As he was about to fly out, the hem of his pants got stuck on the barrel of the gun. It had pierced through the material and Yifan tried to pull himself out. 

“Jongin, it looks like Yifan hyung’s stuck, you have to get up there” Junmyeon said to the teleporter, while slowly building up a big tidal wave, sending it over to the ships in an attempt to capsize them. They saw the helicopter rapidly dropping and losing altitude. “Okay, I hope I make it” and Jongin disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

“These uniforms are not working in my favor” Yifan said nervously, the more he was being pulled down by the gun. 

“Hyung!” Jongin popped in and grabbed his wrist in time. 

“I’m stuck!” Yifan said, tugging on his pants. Jongin joined in and tried to rip the hem, the barrel piercing through the material before ripping it apart. Once the older male was free, he grabbed Jongin’s arm and carried him away from the aircraft, seeing it drop on the ocean below. 

They landed on the beach, where Sehun was, forming a big tornado that swept up the figures in the ships on the frontline. “Yifan, Jongin, head into the building now” the two of them heard Luhan’s voice in their heads. “Let’s do this your way this time, Jongin” Yifan said as he grabbed the teleporter’s wrist, disappearing in a puff of smoke and appearing inside the building, where Kyungsoo and Yixing were. 

The rest of them were all over the island, each of them doing what they could in preventing the bullets from hitting them and everyone else. Hyejung and Ino appeared inside the building just in time, after hearing Luhan tell them to find shelter. 

“These pants need some work” Yifan said, looking at the torn hem. 

“That’s a real rip?” Ino bent down and took a closer look. “This seems a lot more dangerous then?” he asked, in disbelief. 

A swirl of colors soon filled the room, and they had almost forgotten that they were inside the Center, in the communal training room. “Okay, I think that’s enough on the simulation for now” Junhong suddenly said from the booth. 

They all looked at each other, and smiled, quietly cheering at how well it went. “I think this went well” Ino nodded, proud of all of them. 

“Yeah, but our uniforms probably need some work. They’re a bit heavy for me” Yifan frowned, looking at the hem, the cut had disappeared. 

“Junhong, I definitely think you outdid yourself in this. You guys all outdid yourselves in making this room” Hyejung said, impressed. 

“It’s what we do” Junhong and Yongguk hit high fives. “But you all did very well. I’m surprised all of you managed to make some teamwork happen in a short time” 

“Well, when you all live together in here, it’s what happens, I guess” Junmyeon said, smiling at all of them. 

Ino smiled. “It also helps that you’re all similar to each other. Not everyone is born with powers” 

~ 

That night, Mirae stopped by the music store again. From the time, she knew that it was half an hour away from closing for the day. Stepping inside, noticing that there were a group of girls hauling in albums by the armful, she saw Hyuk, checking everything out on the counter. 

“Hey” she said. 

Hyuk looked up and waved a little, before taking the payments and placing everything into plastic bags. She waited for him to finish, and when the group left the store, he stepped out of the counter. “Hey you too” he said, glancing at her arm, where he remembered she got cut. 

“I thought I’d stop by again. Work was intense today” she said. “I thought of seeing you and my parents” Mirae said quietly. 

Hyuk nodded. “Well, they’re in the back room taking an inventory for the day” he said. He suddenly pulled her into a tight hug. “I missed you” he whispered. 

Mirae could feel her heart pounding, and she slowly wrapped her arms around him to return the hug. The only thing she wanted to do at the moment was to bury her face in his shoulder, tell him how she felt about him, and tell him what she was and explain what he saw on her. “I’m sorry I ran off the other night” she managed to say. 

“It’s okay, but you had me worried” he said, pulling away a little but not letting go of her. Hyuk leaned in. “I thought you were hurt, but,” he looked down at her arm. “I guess not”

Mirae shook her head. “I’m not, don’t worry. I get better right away” she assured him. 

Hyuk smiled, and let go of her. “Come on, I don’t want you to run off again without seeing them” he said, taking her hand and leading her into the back room. 

There she saw her foster parents, Miran and Changseok, sitting down at a desk with cups of tea at hand, seemingly having just finished the work. “Hello” she quietly said as she entered, Hyuk standing by the door. 

The couple stood up, smiling as they pulled Mirae into their arms. “I missed you both so much” she said, hugging them both. “Lucky for me, I was able to get a free pass from work tonight” Mirae smiled as she pulled away. 

“I’m relieved you’re doing so well. At least they let you off to see us” Changseok said, pulling up another chair for her to sit, and waving Hyuk over to sit with them. “Hyuk told me you two met up a few weeks ago, am I right?” 

Mirae chuckled. “Yeah, I ran into him as I was taking a walk and,” she glanced at him. “We ended up having a meal together and all that” 

Miran looked at Hyuk. “She saw me performing in that contest I told you about” he explained right away. 

“Well, I’m glad all the same. How was work? Are you eating well? Sleeping well? I’m sure it was hard adjusting to life over there” The two asked Mirae. 

Mirae just smiled. “It was overwhelming starting work over there, but I got the hang of it in no time. In time maybe, they’ll allow me to go and live here again and just come in and out” she said. 

“Good, Hyuk here needs the help, and we can only hire so many people” Changseok joked, making all of them laugh. 

Mirae glanced at Hyuk and chuckled. “This store does seem a little too small. Don’t worry, when I get the money, I promise we can expand the store” she said. But deep down, she wasn’t even sure if she was going to get paid. 

Both Miran and Changseok shook their heads. “Nonsense, you keep your money. You say that like we’re not earning much here” Miran said. “People buy by the bulk a lot, right Hyuk?” 

“Right. It gets hard trying to check them all” He agreed, making Mirae laugh. “Especially lately, with new stuff coming in” 

~ 

Hyejung and Jongin stopped by the main lab, where they saw Yongguk and Jongup testing out some more handheld weapons at some crash test dummies on the other side of the room. Daehyun and Himchan were testing a new car they had fixed up and Youngjae was looking at something through a microscope. Junhong sat in one corner, examining what looked like pieces of fabric on the table and scribbling something on a piece of paper. “Hey everyone” they greeted. No one seemed to answer, and Hyejung and Jongin took this as a sign to go over to Junhong. 

“Junhong, whatcha doing?” Hyejung looked over at the fabrics on the table. 

“Well, Yifan said that his pants sort of got stuck on the rotors during simulation, so I’m trying to design new stuff” Junhong replied, examining the fabrics he had on the table. 

“You mean we’re going to get new uniforms?” Jongin’s eyes lit up. “To be honest, our uniforms seem to be a bit bulky. It drags me down a bit” he commented. 

Junhong nodded. “Which is why I’m trying to design new ones. Upgraded ones, that will not only adapt to each of your abilities, it’s also quite nice to look at too” he said, turning around to examine a few other materials laid out on the table. 

“Fashion and function, I like the way you think” Hyejung nodded approvingly. 

“This also means, you will all have to wear the bulky ones until I’m finished making all of them” Junhong said. 

Jongin suddenly popped up next to Youngjae, who almost knocked over the test tubes. “There isn’t much to do around here for now, while we’re waiting for something to happen” he said. 

“You guys can go back to training” Youngjae suggested, zooming in on whatever he was looking at through the microscope. 

“Well, since we’re not doing anything,” Hyejung came through the portal that opened up to their part of the room. “We can always help them out?” she shrugged. 

“How are you going to help us out?” Youngjae asked, taking out the glass slide he was looking at. 

“I don’t know,” Hyejung looked around. “Jongin and I can test the weapons for you before giving it to the others?” she suggested. 

“Or, we could invent code names for ourselves” Jongin suddenly commented. 

“Why would we need code names?” 

“I don’t know, in case people come looking for us or something. At least we’re the only ones that know” Jongin said. 

Hyejung shook her head. “It’s too cheesy. And besides, we’re meant to be kept a secret, I think” she glanced at Youngjae. “Well not exactly us, but more on what we do in this place” she looked up at the ceiling. 

“She’s right though, Jongin,” Youngjae looked up at them. “If they find us, then they find us. Having code names might end up confusing the others, and us included” he said. 

“We’re not superheroes, or soldiers, we’re just.. A group of,” Hyejung paused to think of a better way to word it. 

“Genetically enhanced individuals?” Youngjae suggested. 

“Genetically enhanced individuals” Hyejung repeated. “Genetically enhanced individuals trying to keep the peace or something” 

“That still sounds like we’re superheroes” Jongin said.


	12. Eleven: The Break-In

“A name for all of us would give us a cool image” Baekhyun said in the cafeteria that night. “I mean, what are we exactly? We’re like superheroes!” he said. 

Hyejung rolled her eyes. “That’s what Jongin was trying to suggest to the others earlier” she said. “Baek, are we even supposed to be known by a lot of people? For all we know we’re just freaks to them” 

“I doubt it. With all the superhero movies these days?” Baekhyun said, still full of confidence. “Hyejung, it’s not like we can keep these under wraps forever. Everyone’s going to know somehow” 

She shrugged, refilling her glass with soda. “Know that we’re a bunch of people who could potentially pose a threat to everyone else? Maybe” she pointed out. 

“Earth to Hyejung, everyone’s a threat. Some just aren’t able to stop themselves, and that’s what makes them criminals” Baekhyun argued. 

“Hey, hey, hey, enough with all that talk” Jongdae cut in this time. “We should all just, try and get some rest, or relax or something” he stood up from his seat. Looking at the now cleaned up tables for the day, he turned to leave. 

Hyejung followed, bringing her glass with her, and so did Baekhyun. They followed Jongdae to the living area, where they saw Jongdae take a bag of chips from the giant shelf in one part of the room. He slumped down on the sofa and took the remote, turning on the tv and flipping through the channels. She sat down beside him and sighed, stealing a chip when Jongdae had opened the bag. “Ever since we all started doing more stuff, I couldn’t sleep right away” she said quietly. 

Jongdae stopped at the history channel, where a program about ancient Egypt was on. “Me too” he sighed. “It feels so strange, doesn’t it?” 

Hyejung nodded, and Baekhyun quietly munched on a handful of chips. “Way too strange. Ever since I came here and learned more about all this, it feels like the world’s turned upside down” she muttered, looking up at the tv, where photos of hieroglyphs were being shown. 

“Tell me about it, it all blew my mind” Baekhyun suddenly commented, making Jongdae and Hyejung look at him. 

The two men turned to Hyejung this time. “So, all this time you’ve been staying here, I still don’t know your story,” Jongdae said. “What’s up with you?” he asked. “How did your powers come and all that?” 

Hyejung smiled as she started to explain. “My powers came when I was 8 years old, when I saw all these portals and stuff. It was when I was 10 that I realized that it wasn’t all just an act of magic, and that I was the one making them. It’s a little hard to explain when you can do what I do” she said quietly. “I’m very fortunate to have a family that accepted my abilities, you know? But I guess it’s because I never knew what else I could do until I came here” 

Baekhyun and Jongdae nodded. “They think your power’s harmless, but once they see the other things you do with it, they start thinking you’re some sort of freak” Baekhyun said, looking wistful. 

The door opened and Jinri came in, dressed in her pajamas. “Hey guys” she said quietly. 

Jongdae looked up and smiled. “Hey, we’re just watching a documentary on ancient Egypt, want to join us?” he said. 

Baekhyun moved a little to the side for Jinri to sit next to Jongdae, and as he handed her the bag, Jinri took out a handful, and started munching on them. “Can’t sleep?” 

“How could you tell?” Jinri looked at the three of them. 

“We couldn’t sleep either” Hyejung shook her head. 

Jinri shrugged in her seat. “It’s like one day, we’re just trying to live our lives and then all of a sudden we’re here because of what we can do, and it doesn’t exactly involve sitting in a cubicle or being cooped up in the kitchen making desserts” she said. 

“Is that what you want to do?” Jongdae suddenly asked her. 

“I have a degree in culinary arts, and I worked at a pastry shop before I got the call from Ino oppa” she replied, munching on the rest of the chips in her hand. “I accidentally cut one of the ovens in half, and I had to sacrifice three months worth of pay to get it replaced” Jinri explained, looking wistful. She sat up all of a sudden. “Speaking of which, do we even get paid?” she asked. 

“We get allowances too. That’s why Minseok hyung, Yifan hyung, and Luhan hyung got to go out to the mall” Baekhyun explained. “I didn’t expect this job to be a high-paying one. After all, we also do live here and stuff, so everything is provided for” 

“How do they fund everything, though?” Hyejung asked. It remained a mystery to her as to how Junhong and the Professor were able to build everything around them. “Is Professor Jang some sort of billionaire or something?”

The males chuckled. “There have been rumors that he is, but Yongguk hyung believes that the government is secretly funding everything we use here, so we can’t really be sure which is accurate” Jongdae replied. 

~ 

Later that night, after exchanging long and meaningful stories, Mirae had bid her foster parents goodnight, with Changseok asking Hyuk to go with her back to the building. They closed the doors of the shop, before heading on their way. “I’m glad I got to see them today” Mirae sighed happily, her hands in her pockets as they walked. 

“Well, you did say you’d come back to see them” Hyuk smiled at her. 

Mirae agreed. She remembered to email them everyday about the happenings at work, although she wasn’t sure whether or not to tell them what she really did in the Center. She was still set on giving them money, however. 

“Mirae?” he suddenly asked, as they crossed the street. 

“Hmm?” 

Hyuk paused. “I think I should tell you something, or ask you something” he said, unsure of what to say. 

“That’s what you said the last time, and then the store behind you exploded” Mirae commented, in an effort to joke. 

Hyuk chuckled. “Well, what I wanted to say then, I figured I’d say another time” he said. 

“What? Come on, you have to tell me, Kwon Hyuk” Mirae nudged him. 

“Speaking of...I saw you back at the jewelry store that night” Hyuk blurted out all of a sudden. Mirae’s eyes widened, and she looked down as they kept walking. “You were with these other people, and you were fighting off some creature or something” he added quietly. “You were wearing different clothes like some kind of spy too” 

Mirae could only nod. 

“Is that what you really do now?” Hyuk asked quietly. 

Mirae tried to figure out how to explain. It wasn’t easy to say this to any other person who didn’t know that there were people like her, that there were people who could do things that most people could only imagine of doing. “Wh-what would it be to you if it was?” was all she could say. 

“Honestly,” he gently took her hand out of her jacket pocket and held it. “It wouldn’t matter, it would just make sense. I mean, you had a cut that time and then it disappeared, right?” 

Mirae still couldn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure whether she could be happy on the inside, knowing that Hyuk had hugged her, told her he missed her, and was now holding her hand and spending time alone with her, or nervous, knowing that he also figured out what she was and worried about how he felt about it. The two of them crossed another street. “I-I’m not like most people, Hyuk. If you knew what I could do, then you’ll think I’m not someone you’d want to be around” she said. 

Hyuk just shook his head. “Now I know you’re not like most people. But it’s not exactly a bad thing. Now that I know that you’re not exactly working in a hostel, it’s like you’re some kind of superhero” he said, glancing at her. 

“I’m no superhero, Hyuk” Mirae shook her head this time. “In fact, I don’t even know what we are. The rest of us, I mean” she said quietly. 

“Can I say superhumans?” Hyuk suggested, in an attempt to lighten the dampened mood between them. He turned to her, squeezing her hand. “Lee Mirae, your secret job is safe with me” he assured her. 

~ 

Ino looked at his father with disbelief. “Dad, what do you mean? Do you know something? Are you in danger?” he asked, starting to worry. 

“Ino, it’s too dangerous for you. If you knew the things I know, you’ll wish you hadn’t” Professor Jang said. “Something terrible’s going to happen if this gets out, Ino” he said. 

Ino sat down. “Dad, what’s going to happen?” he asked this time. 

Professor Jang looked at the book Ino had opened and reached over to pick it up. “It’s all true, Ino. Everything you’re wondering about, it’s all true. Long ago, the goblin prince, Zeenohai, swore that when he came back to his family, that he was set on conquering this world, to make absolute, their dominion over the earth,” he explained. “He isolated himself from everyone, and throughout the ages, he slept, turning into a living statue so as to remain undisturbed, and supposedly, so did the rest of his family”

Ino nodded. “I know the story, dad. He was hell bent on claiming this world despite his family wanting nothing but peace with humans”

And in a flash, images started to come into Ino’s head. Images of war, goblins, bloodshed, and the diamond, and Ino saw it all. He was frozen in his seat. “Ino? Are you okay?” Professor Jang asked his son. 

Ino snapped out of it, blinking and shaking his head a few times. “Oh god,” he looked frightened. “He’s going to slaughter everyone, all the death, all the suffering” he mumbled, and his father looked worried as well. “There’s going to be a big war, a war between the earth above and the earth below..” 

“Ino, if the prince finds out about the exact location of the diamond, then he’ll be invincible, no one can stop him. The diamond may be sentient, but once it is found, it becomes loyal to it’s owner” the professor warned him. 

“Then dad, where is the diamond?” 

Professor Jang paused to look his son in the eye. All his life he had been trying to protect Ino and his own family from the secret that he guarded, and now that he knew that his own son was also a superhuman like the recruits, who could see into the future, who knew what the Prince was up to at the very moment, it was clear that this had become much bigger than all of them. It was going to be more than a well-kept secret from now on. He looked down. “Ino,” he started, slowly standing up. 

“Come with me.”

~ 

It wasn’t long before all of them had gathered in the living room, including Mirae, who had arrived and soon changed into her sleepwear before joining the rest to watch the rest of the documentary. “No wonder the guy in the mummy movies is afraid of cats” Jongin commented, eating a handful of popcorn from Kyungsoo’s bowl in front of him. 

“Later on, though, he isn’t afraid of them anymore” Sehun looked over at him. 

“It’s really fascinating, this documentary” Junmyeon mumbled in his seat, mindlessly taking sips of his cola. “I learned a lot from this than I did back in school” 

Jongdae looked at the rest of them once the credits started rolling. “We all can’t sleep, huh?” he said. 

“I hardly sleep, you know that” Yixing suddenly said. 

“Which is why you probably should now, you need to get some rest,” Minseok advised, as he and Luhan patted him on either side. “We’re probably not doing anything much tomorrow, so just relax” he assured the younger male. 

“Yeah, it’s not like we’re going to an office or something. Yongguk hyung and the others are still figuring out what to do from here,” Zitao said. “Go rest, ge” 

Yixing sighed. “It’s just.. Lately, I just can’t sleep alone,” he slowly admitted. “With everything we’re seeing these past few weeks? I just have a hard time” he said. 

That had given Hyejung an idea. “Hey, guys, why don’t we all just..” she looked at all of them. “Sleep here for the night? We can all fit, plus, we won’t have to be alone?” she suggested. 

Junmyeon agreed, looking at all of them as well. “That sounds like a great idea” 

Moments later, they were all lying in different parts of the living room, all tucked in with their blankets and pillows. Yifan had mastered the ability to keep himself afloat a few inches above the ground to make more room for the others. Jinri and Hyejung shared the couch while Mirae was behind it, surrounded by a few more pillows. 

“Why do you always have that with you?” Chanyeol said, upon noticing Mirae’s metal rod by her pillow. 

“It makes me sleep better” she replied, and closed her eyes. 

And one by one, they slowly drifted off to sleep, comforted by each other’s presence in the room. 

In the early hours of the morning, all was quiet. However, as they slept, they didn’t hear the sounds of the Center’s double gates melting into a liquefied metal puddle on the ground. 

~ 

Professor Jang and Ino had crept into the living room after noticing that no one was in their beds, and sighed in relief at the sight of all the recruits sleeping soundly with each other. “I think the recent events had them a little uneasy” Professor Jang said to his son, as they quietly closed the doors and went back on their way to their bedrooms. 

“I think so too,” Ino agreed. He turned to his father. “The location of the diamond is safe with me” he muttered. 

“Good. No one must know. I’ve now done my part,” Professor Jang smiled at him. “I’ve always thought that you would be the next in line to know where it is, and why I chose to build the Center here, in Ilsan” he added. 

Ino smiled. “I don’t know why you’ve given me these responsibilities. Being the big brother to all of them, and all of a sudden passing the torch or something” he looked down. 

“Ino,” the professor started. “I’m so proud of the man you’ve become. I’m surprised I brought you up to be this good,” he chuckled. “But I won’t be around forever, and I surely don’t want to try. I’ve lived a good life, and I must always be prepared” he said. 

Hearing all this made Ino worry, but he understood. “Don’t say that. Even if it’s true, don’t say that” he said. 

“I’m sorry, Ino. But I’m so proud of you still” the professor smiled. 

They suddenly stopped when they heard a rumbling from above. “Someone’s here” Ino muttered. One suited man ran towards them. “Sir, we have intruders in the premises above” they said. 

“The security at the gate is airtight, what happened?” Ino asked. 

“We don’t know. Four hooded unknowns melted the gates,” the man said. “They even destroyed the surveillance cameras placed outside” 

“And Hyesung? Where is he?” Professor Jang asked. 

Just then, Hyesung ran towards them from the elevating platforms. “Sir, we have a breach in the premises. I have my guards up at the front desk” he said. 

Both of them nodded. “Good. Standby in case they breach the frontline above” Professor Jang advised, and Hyesung quickly went back to the elevating platform. 

Another rumbling came, and this time it was stronger. They heard noises from the living room, and they knew that the recruits could have heard. “Ino, go check on them,” Professor Jang said. “We might need them to help us” 

~ 

Right above, the floor of the lobby of the place was now littered with dead bodies. Prince Zeenohai examined their handiwork, and removed his hood. So did the three other goblins. “I spy, with my little eye,” he noticed the lining of the tiles at their feet. “An entrance. What controls this?” he looked at his followers. When he got no answer, he bent down, feeling the tile with the hostel’s logo. “It is all..underground” he muttered. Standing up again, he faced his followers. 

“Your highness,” one of them was standing behind the front desk. “I believe I know where it is” they said, pressing the button. The tile instantly lowered them down, where they were met with more suited men, pointing guns at them. 

“Stand down” Hyesung ordered. 

The prince observed all of them. “I am looking for the..” he hissed. “Guardian” 

“There is no guardian here,” Hyesung replied. “Stand down, or we will shoot” 

The prince turned to his guards, and with a wave of his hand, they had put their swords and daggers away. He turned back to Hyesung and the men. “This is the place with humans who can do extraordinary things, yes?” the prince hissed as he walked up to Hyesung.

“What are you talking about?” Hyesung asked, trying to stay alert, eyes widening when he found himself looking the goblin in the eye. 

“The humans upstairs… served as pests, and naturally, my guards and I have exterminated those pests,” the prince hissed. “Now, if you wish to keep your life, you will tell me where the Guardian is. I believe he is here,” he stared into Hyesung’s eyes. “And I also believe, you know where he is” he said. 

Hyesung slowly put his gun down, his expression blank as he had fallen in a trance. “Let me bring you to the professor,” he said, turning around. “Stand down, gentlemen” he ordered. 

“But sir” one of them said. 

The prince waved a hand, and as he followed Hyesung down the hall, the sounds of metal swishing and screams could be heard behind him. Hyesung stopped when Professor Jang was standing at the end of the hall. “You must be the professor” Prince Zeenohai uttered. 

“I am...And as I look at you, I have found that the whispers I hear are true,” the professor said. “Your highness. What brings you here?” 

“I’ve come to take what is rightfully mine. This earth” the prince declared. 

“And you think you can take it from here?” Professor Jang asked. 

A smirk formed on the prince’s lips. “I know I could,” he stared into the professor’s eyes. “And I know you could help me,” he hissed. “Ejol, take the two and search the place. Eliminate any who stand in your way” 

~ 

Ino ran to the living room, seeing everyone sound asleep except for Baekhyun, who was looking up at the ceiling. Trying not to alarm everyone and make any noise, he went to Junmyeon, who was sleeping nearest the door. “Junmyeon, wake up, something’s up” he whispered to the water controller. 

“What’s going on? What’s happening upstairs?” Baekhyun asked, getting up and kicking away his blanket and pillows. 

Hyejung sat up from the couch as well, having woken up from the sounds, and Mirae stirred, opening her eyes. “What is going on?” she mumbled, looking up at the ceiling. 

Jongdae stood up as well, fixing his hair. “Is Junhong busy making something again?” he asked. 

“No, Jongdae. There are intruders in the premises” Ino replied. 

“What?!” Jongdae’s eyes widened and he looked down, already uneasy at Ino’s words. 

Junmyeon blinked a few times and stirred, before quickly getting up, putting his blanket and pillow to the side. “What do-what do we do?” he asked, lightly kicking the rest who were asleep awake, and shaking a floating Yifan, who nearly fell.

“What’s going on? What’s happening? What’s that noise?” Yifan asked sleepily, smoothing out his hair. 

Everyone else started to get up, some of them jolting up when they heard rumbling. Mirae sleepily picked up the rod by her pillow as she got on her feet. 

The sounds of glass, metal, and concrete crashing soon reverberated along the halls and in the ceiling. “Remember your training in the communal room?” Ino warned them. “Tonight’s when you’ll put your teamwork to use” he said, getting a little more frightened when the sounds grew louder. 

“Is this a repeat of what happened on our last assignment?” Sehun asked. “Because I really don’t want to sprain another ankle...nor fall down another flight of stairs” he mumbled. 

“Oh no, no no no,” Zitao stood behind Sehun. “This is so scary” 

“We need a plan” Minseok suggested, his hair still messed up in places. 

Ino took a deep breath. “Okay, Jongin and Hyejung can move in and out of places, to see where it’s coming from,” he turned to the two. “Luhan, Jinri, and Chanyeol, go down and bring Yongguk and the others up here. They have to be protected most of all. The rest of you, split up into twos, look out for what’s coming” he directed. 

“What about you, hyung? What are you going to do?” Zitao asked. 

“I’ll look for the professor” Ino replied, and they quietly ran out of the living room, scattering in different directions, Jongin disappearing and Hyejung entering a portal. 

~ 

The doors of the mini rooms down the halls had been broken down, and shards of glass were everywhere. The three goblin warriors broke through the floors and ceilings of each level, crashing through various rooms during their search. 

They had soon landed on the floor of the laboratory. “The diamond isn’t here” one of them said as they looked around, flipping over the car that was in the middle. 

“No, but this is,” Ejol made a beeline for the test tube rack in the corner of the room, each of them labeled with names of the recruits. “His majesty will be happy we have acquired this” he said, baring his fangs. 

“Hey dickheads!” Jongin suddenly popped up in the middle of the room. He stared at all of them. “Looking for something?” 

“A superhuman!!” Ejol growled and sent the two other goblins after Jongin. “Get him!” 

“Sorry, gotta go!” Jongin grabbed the pistol on the nearby table and pulled the trigger just before disappearing. Purple gas was soon released and the goblins were quick enough to step back. 

“There are more of them, Ejol,” one of them said. “They could be anywhere in the building” 

“Then find them and tear them apart” Ejol ordered, taking the test tubes before jumping up the ceiling and climbing up to the floor above. 

The other two stormed down the halls, ripping and punching their way through anything that stood in their way. 

~ 

Mirae scrambled down the halls, trying to dodge the crossfire that was happening between one of the goblins and Minseok, who had been trying to block the creature off with the wave of ice he was creating. “These guys don’t quit!” she cried out, skidding to a halt when she saw some more goblins coming her way, spilling out from the elevating platforms. “Oh no..” she muttered, eyes wide upon getting outnumbered. “No no no!” she started running down the other hall, before anyone could reach her, extending her staff while stabbing the one coming up behind her. 

Her pupils started to glow red and so did her fingertips, the staff she was holding was soon outlined by a faint yellow glow, and she stabbed them, sending the creature flying back and knocking the others down like bowling pins. Mirae didn’t know what to do next, but all she knew was that she had to fend them off, keep them away or even, kill them if need be. “Mirae noona!” Sehun called out from one of the rooms, looking at her in awe, having seen what she could do. 

“Sehun! There are more of them!” Mirae looked at him, eyes still glowing red. “A little help would be nice!” 

Sehun watched her for a moment. The older female was hitting every creature that came her way with her staff before knocking them all down again, this time with a kick. “These things don’t quit, mind you” the glow in her eyes and fingertips disappeared. 

“I figured that, but noona!” Sehun pointed at the goblin who was crawling towards them. With a wave of his hand, he knocked them back with a strong gust of wind, sending them all the way down to the end of the hallway. “What do we do? What do we do?” he said, a little nervously. 

She looked around, then grabbed his wrist. “Come, we have to find the others,” she pulled him to another part of the hallway until they stopped at a door. “Who knows how many really came in” she opened the door, revealing a spiral staircase. 

The younger male looked at her in amazement. “How did you know about this? I’ve stayed here longer than you and you already know your way around” he said, following her up the stairs. 

“I explored” Mirae simply replied, climbing the stairs two at a time, while Sehun followed her. 

Meanwhile, Luhan, Jinri, and Chanyeol entered Junhong's room through the portal Hyejung had made them. The male in question had been pacing back and forth, looking up at the ceiling from all the noises he was hearing. “Junhong, you have to stay up in the living room. Goblins are here and they’re planning to destroy this place or something” Chanyeol explained, a little out of breath. 

“What? How did they find this place?” Junhong was in disbelief. He hurriedly slipped on his bedroom slippers and followed them out, stepping back when Jinri fired a plasma blast at an oncoming goblin. 

“Okay, this is bad, this is very bad,” Luhan turned to the three. “Chanyeol, go ahead and wake the others up. Jinri, make sure Junhong doesn’t get hurt, I’ll try and fend them off as long as I can” he said, rushing out. 

“Wait! Wait! I have this,” Junhong took a pistol out of his bedside table drawer. “I can defend myself too” he said. 

“Even better. Now, go, go!” Luhan gestured them to go to the other end of the hallway. He closed his eyes, sending a message to Hyejung to create a portal for them. Just as he expected, a portal soon appeared before Junhong and Jinri. 

“Junhong, you have to go in there, you can’t stay here,” Jinri warned him. “It won’t be long before the portal closes” 

“But noona-” Junhong was cut off when Jinri pushed him inside, the portal closing up at once. 

Chanyeol pounded his fists on the remaining doors, waking the others up. “Evacuate! Evacuate!” he said, eyes widening as he saw Luhan weakening the longer he held them off. Jinri soon stepped in, firing plasma blasts at the goblins and throwing them off. “Guys, guys, come on, hurry up, get your emergency guns and head onto the living room” 

“Chanyeol! I can’t get out! The lock’s stuck or something,” Daehyun pounded on the door from his room. “And how did you know that we have emergency firearms?” he asked. 

“No time! Okay, back away from the door, I’ll break in” Chanyeol stepped back from the door, before kicking the door open, shooting flames at the goblins that made it past Luhan. 

The door broke, and Daehyun got out, firing multiple rounds at the creatures that were coming at them once again. Jongup and Yongguk did the same, while Youngjae and Himchan led Luhan, who nearly fell over, out of the way and towards the staircase at the other end of the hallway. “Luhan hyung’s losing energy, we need to fall back” 

“Right, we need to go, noona,” Chanyeol tapped Jinri’s shoulder, and the two of them ran off after a few more blasts, following the three towards the staircase. “The rest of you have to stay in the living room, Jinri noona and I will find the others. Make sure Luhan hyung is rested and all of you safe” 

~ 

Ino ran down the halls, looking for the professor. “Dad? Dad, where are you?” he tried to follow the sounds of heavy footsteps in the corners, but only led to dead ends. “Dad, where are you?” he panted, looking around. Images suddenly flashed in his mind; a gleaming clear gem, a series of tunnels, hundreds of goblin warriors, with another goblin with a crown on its head, and, to his horror, his father, lying on the ground, with fatal wounds on his face and body. 

“Oh no,” he muttered, looking all around. In a split-second, he found himself in the middle of the living room, where he saw Junhong and the others, including Luhan, who was seated on the couch. All of them were looking at him in surprise, wondering how he got in there without using the door. “What the-how did I…” Ino looked down at himself. 

“Hyung..” Junhong’s eyes were wide. 

“Hyung...are you..?” Daehyun nearly dropped his gun. 

“I know, I know, I’m wondering about it myself,” Ino nodded, a little confused and surprised at his newfound power. “Luhan, are you alright?” he saw the male lie down, while Youngjae handed him a pillow to rest his head on. 

“I just got tired, that’s all. It’s tough keeping those things still,” Luhan sighed, while Yongguk passed him a can of coke. “I think my powers aren’t strong enough” 

Ino looked at all of them, quietly counting in case someone was missing. “Okay, all six of you are here, the rest are out there. Good, good,” he said. “I was looking for my father, but I couldn’t find him anywhere” 

They heard a very loud crash from a distance, alerting all of them. “There are more of them, hyung. Earlier, I saw it” Luhan said. 

Ino nodded. “The rest of you stay here, especially the six of you,” he said to Junhong and the others, while he motioned for Luhan to lie back down. “Stay alert of anything that might come in. This time, I don’t think Yixing’s healing powers would be enough to be able to heal a lot of injuries” he muttered, before running out of the room. 

As he got closer to where the elevating platforms were, he skidded to a halt when he saw a large hole, and from above, he saw the hostel’s very high ceiling. It was all suddenly quiet, a kind of quiet that made the hairs on his arms stand on end. 

But that wasn’t what made him look at everything in horror. There were bodies everywhere, of all the guards and suited men that were at the frontlines, and one of them was a lifeless Hyesung, who had been stabbed several times with the weapons the creatures carried. 

The Center had practically been destroyed from below. The laboratory equipment was trashed, shards of glass were everywhere, most of the doors were busted down and some tables, including the ones in the cafeteria, had been destroyed. 

Scorch marks covered some parts, melting water seeped into the carpeted floors. Most of the walls had splatters of blood. The only rooms that remained intact were their bedrooms and the communal training room, including the bathrooms. 

~ 

All of them started to assemble in the living room, some of them sporting scorch marks on their pajamas, especially Chanyeol’s. Others had goblin blood splatters, especially Kyungsoo, who had dried blood on his fingers. They were all in disbelief of what just happened. It was unexpected, and they were all feeling the same: a mixture of fear, frustration, and sadness. 

“A moment of silence for Hyesung hyung and the others,” Ino advised. “They gave their lives to keeping the peace and protecting us from potential harm. They did their job well.” 

They didn’t need to be told to keep quiet, because they couldn’t say anything at all. This was a different situation than when they were training in the communal room. 

“Where do we go from here, hyung? Where’s the professor?” Baekhyun suddenly spoke. 

Ino shook his head. “They took him. Either that, or he’s hiding somewhere, I don’t know” he said, unable to mention the vision he had earlier. 

“They took the professor?” Hyejung sat up. Ino nodded. She turned to Luhan. “You can sense when someone’s around, right?” she asked. 

“I-I don’t know, I don’t think I’ve ever tackled that before..” Luhan shook his head. “But I can try right now? I don’t know if I could, really” he said. 

“You can try, can’t you?” Hyejung asked, still hopeful.

“I-I-I don’t know,” Luhan was getting flustered. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. After a moment, he shook his head. “I can’t do it.. I don’t feel anything, I’m sorry, hyung” he looked down. 

The rest of them sighed in their places. “Many people died in here, my father’s been kidnapped, most of the areas are destroyed...I guess there’s nothing much else to do than to rebuild everything,” Ino said. “Junhong, is there a way to speed up construction?” he asked. Junhong just shrugged. 

“On the bright side,” Yongguk spoke up. “Well, no.. there isn’t one..” he sighed, looking down. 

“We could get moving and find the Professor. Wherever it may be, whatever it takes,” Junmyeon suddenly commented. “If not for hyung and him, we wouldn’t be here doing what we do, right?” he turned to everyone. 

“I say,” Minseok stood up. “I say we continue on with whatever’s still intact here. Rebuild what needs fixing, and train harder. We all need each other, more than we know at the moment” he said. 

Everyone nodded. “There’s another thing though,” Jongin suddenly said. “One of them, took those test tubes in the lab when I popped in” 

“Which test tubes?” Junhong suddenly asked. 

“The ones with our names on them. Our blood samples, I think” Jongin shrugged. 

Junhong turned to Yongguk, Himchan, Daehyun, Jongup, and Youngjae, and the six of them looked at Ino. “If what I’ve read about them is right, then we’re in big trouble” he muttered. 

“Why? What did you read about them?” Mirae asked. 

“Goblins, even the powerful ones, they have this technology, or magic of some sort, that could replicate the dna of anything and put it into another being, that being would be able to have not just the chemistry that’s in the body of the original, but in our case, they could..” Junhong shook his head. “They could be able to get your powers too, since your powers are genetic” 

“What?!” everyone looked at him in shock. 

Ino took a deep breath and looked down. “If they’ve taken those samples, it could either mean they want their leader to be all powerful, or that they’re building an army underground..” he said. 

“This is so scary and crazy, I don’t think I can take it” Zitao buried his face in the couch cushion. 

“We have to stop them then, how do we do it?” Junmyeon asked. 

“We try and find a way to get there ourselves, I think. To where those goblins are coming from” Jongdae replied. 

“A whole army of goblins with various superpowers..and then I thought I’ve seen a lot of things” Jongin stared at the wall, shaking his head. 

“They know how to teleport and control various elements and even slow down time as much as they’d like...This is going to be very difficult.” Yifan stared at the floor. 

“They would know how to fly too, hyung,” Baekhyun commented, staring at the floor as well. “They are now officially the most powerful creatures in this world.” 

~ 

Deep underground, the goblins had set to work, pouring the test tubes filled with blood into separate containers. The prince stopped to look, an evil smile etched on his face. “Very good, Ejol.” He turned back to his guard. “Now, prepare the others. We’re running out of time.” he instructed. 

“Just what are you planning to do, Your Highness?” a voice said from a distance. It was Professor Jang, chained to a set of iron bars. 

Prince Zeenohai approached him, while Ejol walked off to alert the others. “Professor! Had it not been for you, then I wouldn’t have found them and tried to make my own. With that, I am grateful,” the Prince’s evil smile remained. 

Professor Jang looked the goblin in the eye. “You will not succeed.” He said firmly. 

“How did you come to that conclusion? I have the blood of your beloved recruits. I am one step closer to finding that diamond.” Prince Zeenohai replied. 

“I don’t need to know the details when I already know you will fail. When an outcome is inevitable, the details are the least important.” Professor Jang said. 

The Prince looked at him closely. “Is that so?” He lifted his hand and pressed his palm on the Professor’s forehead, and in a matter of moments, the Professor passed out.


	13. Twelve: It's a Trap

The next few days since the break in were spent rebuilding the damaged parts of the Center. It served as another way of training the recruits. Baekhyun and Chanyeol helped weld the metal together while Luhan and Yifan brought in more supplies. Junmyeon helped in mixing the cement together and Sehun helped dry the paint. Zitao and Kyungsoo helped in pointing out any potential spills and Jongdae fixed the electrical wiring. Jongin and Hyejung went from one area to another in distributing whatever was needed while Minseok, Yixing, Jinri and Mirae handed out refreshments. 

Ino oversaw reconstruction alongside Junhong, and both of them were pleased at how fast it took to rebuild everything. In a few weeks, the repairs were finished. 

“Well, I guess we’re back to normal,” Ino announced. “Good work everyone.” 

“I am beat, but I am so hungry so I’m going to get some food. Why don’t we all eat together?” Minseok suggested. 

~

All the tables were joined together into one long table and as everyone got their portions of food, they all sat down and quietly ate together. “This is nice, all of us together in one table,” Junmyeon observed with a smile, while the rest tucked into their meals. 

“Now this really feels like home,” Yifan commented, in between bites of his meat and rice. ”I mean, there’s a difference between calling it a home because you live in it, and feeling like this is where you belong..” he said. 

They all nodded quietly. “That’s true. Although I’ve lived here pretty much my whole life, so I’m used to the metal, the people in lab coats, bringing in strange pets and stuff,” Ino joked. “Speaking of which, how are those suits coming?” He turned to Junhong, whose mouth was stuffed. 

It took Junhong a while to finish chewing and swallowing his food before he could answer. “I’m still trying to design a fabric that could work for everyone.” He managed to reply. 

“Can the suits not highlight anything? It gets embarrassing if things on our bodies get...emphasized.” Junmyeon looked down as he said it, embarrassed at the thought. 

“I could use a few minutes in the communal training room, can I get a headstart later?” Mirae raised a hand to ask. 

“Sure, we just finished updating the training sequences. Look forward to some action-packed stuff when you go. You know martial arts, right?” Yongguk agreed and Mirae nodded. “Excellent.” 

Mirae’s answer made Zitao, Minseok, and Baekhyun perk up. “Mind if we join in? We’ll become the martial arts-line.” Baekhyun suggested with a grin. 

“What kind of martial arts do you do? I do wushu mostly.” Zitao asked her. 

Mirae twirled her fork in her hand. “Well, I don’t really have a specific one, it’s pretty much a mix of everything. From what I was taught, I mean.” She said quietly. She was a little embarrassed to reveal this since the three men were probably formally trained. 

“That’s great. We should also spar sometime, I want to see what you can do.” Baekhyun said. 

Everyone else looked at the four of them curiously as well as intrigued. “This, I want to see.” Hyejung said. “This is an advantage to our team, we really have an edge on those goblins now.” She said. 

“You might be right” Ino agreed. “Powers and fighting abilities? The four of them could stay on the frontlines in our missions.” He added. 

“The rest of you could work on your marksmanship.” Himchan teased, making the recruits laugh. 

~ 

That night, Minseok, Zitao, Baekhyun and Mirae found themselves inside a broken down train station. “It’s a bit small, isn’t it?” Baekhyun commented, looking at the windows and the broken plaster and cement that made up some of the walls. The chairs were already broken into pieces and the roof had a giant hole, a swirling cloud could be seen in the sky. 

“What are we going to do?” Zitao looked around, a little nervous as to what was to come. It may not be real, but it looked otherwise. Mirae extended her staff, while Baekhyun and Minseok had their pistols at the ready. 

“I really need to ask Junhong for a cool weapon, like a sword or something.” Baekhyun mumbled. 

“That’s already my thing, hyung,” Zitao caught what he said. “Go get your own, like ninja stars or something.” 

“I could use that too.” Baekhyun agreed. “What do you want to have, hyung?” He turned to Minseok this time. 

The doors of the station burst open and black faceless figures were standing in front of the four. “We’ve got company,” Minseok mumbled and the four of them charged at the dozens of figures that were coming in. 

Zitao and Mirae were quick with their use of weapons, while Baekhyun and Minseok delivered hard kicks and punches. Baekhyun nearly decapitated one with a kick to the face. Zitao slid past a number, slicing through them with his sword. 

Mirae’s eyes were glowing, enabling her to throw off a couple towards the far corners of the place. Taking her pistol out, she shot a few, and the figures melted in front of her. “Holy moly,” she muttered, a little overwhelmed by what she just did, until she fell over when one kicked her in the side. 

The figures soon disappeared, and a huge, muscular man was standing in the middle of the place. “You will not win.” the man grumbled, before turning into a smaller, masked man, holding two swords. From the way the masked man wielded them, the four took it as a sign that he was skilled. 

“Now this is unfair, Minseok hyung and I don’t even have weapons.” Baekhyun said, already in a stance. 

“There are lead pipes” Minseok eyed the exposed ones from a broken part of the wall. “Over there,” he muttered to Baekhyun, who saw it as well. “Zitao, Mirae, distract him first. We’ll come in for the kill, alright?” He instructed. 

“Teamwork, very good.” They heard Junhong’s voice up in the sky. 

“Excuse me, while I go over there,” Mirae started running to the other end of the station. She ran as fast as she could. Mirae sprinted up the stairs until she reached the second level. Zitao kept the masked man busy, bending and dodging every strike for any of the vital parts of his body. “Hang on, Zitao, I’m coming.” she jumped off the ledge, spinning her staff in her hand. 

As she landed, she plunged the staff into the ground. The impact sent Zitao, Baekhyun, and Minseok along with the masked man flying into different directions. The tiles on the floor broke apart and the windows shattered. Baekhyun groaned and crawled out of the rubble with pieces of glass in his hair and what looked like a scratched arm. “The injuries look so real” He commented, getting up with a pipe in hand. 

Mirae stayed still, looking at the scene. Her eyes were still glowing, and she stood back up, spinning her staff with both hands to attack the masked man. The man countered with a few swings of his sword, spinning them and ending up hitting the middle of her staff. Baekhyun entered in time, swinging the pipe in his hand towards him a few times, ducking when the swords were aimed for his head. Mirae took this as an opportunity to strike at the man’s legs and back, but the man dodged it in time and kicked her out of the way. 

Zitao and Minseok joined in the fight, striking with the weapons that they had. Baekhyun had even used his pistol to hit the man on the sides. It was the four of them against the masked man, surrounding him while each making their attempts to incapacitate him. It was with Minseok’s kick that the man fell to the ground unarmed. 

A swirl of colors followed, and it changed into the training room again, where they saw the rest of the recruits, Ino, and Junhong at the control booth, along with Yongguk and the others. They had all watched and were now looking at them in awe. “That was so badass!! That was so cool you guys!!” Hyejung exclaimed. They went up to the control booth where they were met with hugs and excited pounds on shoulders. 

“On one hand, remind me not to mess with you, on the other hand, I am now made aware the extent of your powers. Girl, you are badass.” Jinri looked impressed by Mirae. 

“I say that we should have more training simulations like that. I need to brush up on my skills.” Baekhyun suggested. 

“Yeah? Like what? Batting?” Chanyeol teased. “Your arm’s weak when you hit that.” 

~ 

The goblins continued their work deep under the ground in Prince Zeenohai’s part of the goblin kingdom. Over time, they had managed to mix the blood samples together in one. It had turned into an inky black mixture and it filled up a whole beaker. The prince and Ejol stood by to watch the process. “This is not enough. We need to arm our soldiers,” the prince stated. 

“Your majesty, there aren’t enough samples. If we needed a lot, we would have to kill the hosts from where these samples are from.” One goblin replied, bowing his head. 

That gave the prince an idea. He turned to Ejol and handed him a crystal vial. “Execute order 412. Take the blood, leave no witnesses.” He instructed. Ejol bowed and fled towards another part of the castle. The prince looked at the unconscious body of Professor Jang and an evil smile started to form from the corners of his lips. 

From the other parts of the castle, in the court of the King, screams and sword swings were heard. “Ejol!” The king exclaimed. 

In a matter of moments, Ejol had returned, face and armor streaked with blood. He knelt down before the prince and handed him the vial. It was full of the king’s blood. “Well done, Ejol. My father was much easier to kill than I thought,” the prince gestured him to rise. He handed the vial towards the goblin. “My father’s power lies in this, combine this with what we have and we will be invincible. The diamond is the only thing we’ll need.” 

He glanced at Professor Jang’s unconscious body again. 

“And I know how to obtain it.” 

The prince approached the body and placed his palm on the professor’s forehead. Like ripples in the water, he changed his form. He turned into Professor Jang. “Now, I must go back to the Center.” his voice had changed to match his new body. 

~ 

Later that night, Hyejung, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Jongdae, and Chanyeol took one of the cars to go for a night out. “Have you guys ever been to a club?” Chanyeol said as he drove down the street. They were singing along to an upbeat song that was playing on the radio. 

“Chanyeol, are you the type to go clubbing?” Hyejung teased in the midst of Baekhyun’s loud singing. 

“I’m not! But I want to experience going to one. Live a little, apart from what we do at the center.” He replied, turning a corner. 

“Chanyeol being the type to go clubbing is not the question, though. Whether or not he can drink is.” Kyungsoo suddenly chimed in. 

“I can handle my liquor, thank you very much. Sehun knows I could,” Chanyeol pointed out. “Baekhyun was there too.” 

Baekhyun grinned. “Okay, I say we have a couple drinks. Whoever gets drunk first loses.” He suggested. 

“I don’t know guys,” Hyejung sing-songed. “I don’t think Ino oppa would want to see us coming back drunk or something.” 

Jongdae agreed. “Hyejung’s right. Ino hyung might not want to see us drunk or something. Junhong’s going to be pissed if anyone throws up in here.” He said. It took a while for Junhong to give them the keys, as the car they had was freshly modified. All the vehicles in the center were. 

Chanyeol pulled over across the street from where a trendy club was. They got out, and hurried to the other side. “Alright fine, we’ll keep our limits,” Baekhyun sighed in defeat. “Party poopers.” he mumbled. 

As they were about to enter the place, they were stopped by two huge men. “Excuse me, are the four of you on the list?” One of them asked. “What’s your name?” he looked at Chanyeol. 

“Uh, Park Chanyeol. I think I’m on the list.” Chanyeol blurted out. 

The other man looked through the names on his clipboard. He shook his head and gestured them to go to the back of the line. Chanyeol looked rather defeated. “We can always go to another club. This isn’t the only club around here.” Jongdae assured him. 

Baekhyun suddenly had an idea. “Or…” He slowly turned to Hyejung, and that’s when it hit the guys. 

Hyejung raised a brow. “Oh, really? I’m not using my powers out here when there are a lot of people around.” She shook her head and crossed her arms. 

“Yifan and Luhan hyung both used their powers in the mall before.” Baekhyun argued. 

“Well, they did that to save someone who tried to kill themselves by jumping off the third floor. That was for something good, this is just.. For our convenience!” Hyejung said. 

The two of them started to argue, Jongdae and Kyungsoo eventually joining in. Chanyeol looked around as they went to the back of the line. He noticed a few suited men enter the alley next to the building. Quietly following them, he saw that they stopped in front of a door that said ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ and as one of the men opened the door, loud music could soon be heard playing. “Hey guys,” he interrupted the arguing quartet. 

“What? Did you see something?” Kyungsoo was the first to ask, in an attempt to stop the arguing some more. 

“If we can’t enter in front, we could enter through the back,” Chanyeol gestured to the alley, and the four of them went for a closer look. Baekhyun casually glanced at the door, which closed quickly the moment the men were inside. 

“I don’t think that door’s guarded,” Kyungsoo commented. 

Hyejung looked at the four men in disbelief. “You guys are seriously going to break the law by entering? Jongdae’s right, there are other clubs in this area, not just this one.” She said. 

They were about to start arguing again when they noticed a man and a woman walking unnaturally into the alley across the street, just near the corner where they parked the car. From where Baekhyun stood, he spotted that the man had his hand on the woman’s back, and just as he had suspected, he was a robber. “Well guys, I think an attempt to save someone’s life just opened up for us” He said proudly. 

“I agree…” Hyejung trailed off, noticing the way the two people moved into the cramped place. It gave her an idea. She could already see where she was going. “Come on, guys, we better get there quickly.” 

The five of them went into the backstreet. Kyungsoo and Jongdae kept a lookout in case anyone was passing by or watching them. Chanyeol and Baekhyun led the group a few feet away from the door. “Can you change the size of the portals you create?” Chanyeol suddenly asked. 

Hyejung shook her head. “We’re just going to have to make an entrance. If the robber tries to get away, at least Baekhyun can stop him. Now, we better get in quickly because my portals don’t stay open for more than ten seconds,” and with a wave of her hands, a portal opened by the door, revealing what they suspected they would see. 

Chanyeol, Jongdae, Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun jumped inside and Hyejung followed. The robber froze and so did the woman. “If you don’t want to become a disgrace to the working class, you might want to give the woman her wallet back.” Baekhyun spoke. 

Flustered, the robber tried to run, still holding onto the woman’s valuables. Hyejung opened a portal that connected to the end of the road where the robber was going. The robber ended up back at the scene and in front of them again. “Come on, don’t make us do that again. Give back the wallet, the jewelry, and the phone.” Kyungsoo said this time. 

“No.” 

“No?” Jongdae raised a brow. 

“No.” 

Electric currents were coming out of Jongdae’s hands. Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s eyes were also starting to glow while Kyungsoo cracked his knuckles. “Give it back, unless you want to end up dead, burned, or blinded” Hyejung said. “Remember, no one will believe you if you told them about us.” 

That was when the man dropped everything. “Alright! Alright! Freaks!” He ran off. 

Kyungsoo picked up the woman’s belongings but as was about to give them back, the woman backed away and started running the opposite direction. His shoulders started drooping down. “So much for trying to save a life…” he muttered. 

“So much for wanting to have a good time either.” Chanyeol looked down. 

The rest of them sighed. “Well, we should just turn these things over to the police. At least she’ll get these back,” Hyejung suggested, and they agreed. “While we’re here, there’s this 24-hour Japanese restaurant nearby. We should just go there instead” 

“That, I’m on board for. I’m getting hungry.” Baekhyun rubbed his stomach. 

~ 

Junhong walked into the cafeteria, looking proud of himself. He was followed by Himchan and Yongguk, who looked just as as excited. “I did it! Well, actually we did it, but yes, it is done!” He cheered. 

“What did you guys do, Junhong?” Junmyeon was in the middle of finishing his slice of cake. Jinri looked up from eating her cream puffs. Minseok, Luhan, Yifan, and Yixing looked over at them from their table. “Did you figure out where the Prince is hiding?” He asked. 

“Well no, not yet. The search for him continues, but I have managed to make all of you your new uniforms for the missions,” Junhong declared. “It took me weeks to put all of this together since there’s a lot of you, including ourselves. But we’ve done it, we’re done and it’s ready for testing. If anyone wants to do some training, we can test this out.”

“I guess I can have another go,” Minseok raised a hand. “As long as I get to wear those new uniforms.” 

“Where are Jongin and Zitao?” Yixing asked. 

Himchan smiled. “They’re busy training in their rooms. They’re already wearing the new suits.” 

All of a sudden, Jongin appeared in the middle of the room, and Junhong looked so pleased. “Did someone call my name?” The teleporter asked. 

“I did, you’ll have to model for me for now,” Junhong went over to him. “I have managed to make super lightweight yet virtually indestructible suits for all of you. Made out of a hybrid of space-age polymer and cotton. It’s a rather fitted suit, but it ensures free movement when in battle. Don’t worry gentlemen, these aren’t tights so nothing’s going to be emphasized.” He gestured to the bottom part of the suit Jongin was wearing. 

The recruits looked impressed. Himchan and Yongguk stepped forward this time. “Of course, there will be pockets for you to place your weapons in. It’s water-resistant, water-proof, fire-proof, and the boots are shock-proof which is useful when jumping from high places.” Himchan explained. 

“It will adapt to your body’s temperature. It keeps the hot stuff hot, and the cold stuff cold. They are also designed to adapt to your powers too.” Yongguk explained. “Jongin, would you mind checking your pants pockets?” he asked. 

“Sure.” Jongin nodded, and took out a pair of black fingerless gloves. 

Junhong’s grin grew wider as Jongin put them on. “For the case of many of you, like Minseok hyung over here, your powers can come from your hands, or just with a wave of your hand. These gloves can also adapt to your powers.” He explained. 

“But why are they fingerless, though?” Jinri asked. “Why the gloves in the first place?” She followed, and everyone gave her a look, including Junhong. 

“To keep your hands warm when it’s cold,” Yongguk replied, sarcasm evident in his tone. “Jongin, do you see a small silver button on the end of the gloves?” He turned back to the teleporter. 

Jongin nodded. 

“Press both buttons,” Yongguk instructed. To everyone else’s surprise, the fingerless gloves turned into full ones. “It’s highly adjustable, kind of like the bracelet Tony Stark wears in one of the movies.” 

“Like we said earlier, it adapts to the powers of the wearer. If you try and use your power using regular gloves, Jinri, you’d end up getting a big hole in them,” Junhong explained. “This one doesn’t.” 

“Oh, and there’s also your belts of course. The pistols are new and improved. We designed it to be much smaller, but it still gives off a big bang,” Himchan took out the small gun from Jongin’s belt. “We were inspired by James Bond’s gun. The bullets remain the same, just in a smaller packaging.” he explained, putting the gun back into the holster. 

“While we’d usually tell all of you to just rely on your powers, there will be instances when your powers can only do so much damage. Think of the guns as a supplement. No one should get trigger happy, alright?” Yongguk advised. 

“So for now, who wants to test their powers in the new suits?” Himchan asked them. They all raised their hands while Jongin disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

“Wait, I have more of a question. What about us girls? Is it really uniform?” Jinri asked. “Because I don’t really want to wear something baggy.” 

“You’ll just have to find out. I can assure you however, that the girls’ suits also look as badass as the one the guys will be wearing.” Yongguk replied. 

The five of them followed Junhong, Himchan, and Yongguk down to the lab. Youngjae and Daehyun were pushing down a huge clothing rack full of the same suits they saw on Jongin. “The suits are personalized. You can find your names on the collar.” Daehyun left the rack to the guys. 

“As for Jinri and the rest of the girls, there’s this,” Youngjae showed her to the rack where there were fewer suits. Instead of a vest, it looked more like a corset that doubled as body armor. The shoulder, elbow, and knee pads were slimmer but she had no doubts that those pads were useful. Instead of the combat boots that the guys wore, the girls had wedge boots with a slightly pointed tip. “Don’t worry about the shoes, there’s a built-in cushion that makes it very comfortable to wear.” 

Jinri looked impressed. “You know our struggles well.” She said, looking through the rack for her suit. Youngjae showed her to the closet where she changed. 

A few moments later and the five of them were suited up. “I feel like this needs a helmet or something.” Minseok commented, slipping on the gloves and pressing the buttons.

Jongup suddenly appeared, and Daehyun and Youngjae were grinning. “For some of you, you’re going to need some headgear. Yifan hyung, these are yours,” he handed him a pair of goggles that looked like sunglasses. “Put them on.” 

“One of Yifan hyung’s abilities that goes with his power to fly is incredible sight. These goggles have thermal vision and magnification. The information that the goggles gather will show up in one of our computers.” Jongup explained. 

“Wow,” Yifan was amazed. He looked at everything in the lab with the goggles. “These goggles are so cool. Too bad there’s no x-ray vision.” 

“We’re still working on that,” Junhong was quick to reply. “X-ray vision proves to be useful if we want to know what’s behind something without breaking it open.” he explained. Seeing as everyone was ready, he nodded. “Okay, time to test these suits out.” 

~ 

To Ino, the center felt a little bare since the break-in. There weren’t many people left and he could hear echoes coming from the other floors instead of the usual buzzing. He was on his way to the library, focused on getting some more information on where they can get to the prince and whoever it was that had Professor Jang. 

Upon entering the room, he saw Sehun and Mirae seated on the chairs and reading thick books laid out on the tables. Not wanting to disturb them, Ino quietly went to the table in the far left corner, in between the two shelves. The book he was reading the other day was still on the table, and he opened it up to continue reading. 

He had stopped in the chapter of underground civilizations. As he was about to read, images started flashing in his mind again. It was the same as the ones before, but this time he could see his father clearly. But he could also see the Prince. Ino sat back and blinked a few times, shaking his head of what he had seen. 

“Hello all of you,” 

Ino sat up when he heard his father’s voice. Professor Jang peeked inside the room, and Sehun and Mirae stood up to greet him. “Professor! You’re alive!” the two recruits breathed a sigh of relief. Ino left his seat to give Professor Jang a hug. 

“How did you manage to escape? Did they let you go?” Ino took a good look at his father, checking for any scratches or wounds on him. There were none. 

Professor Jang patted him on the shoulder. “I managed to escape, uh, Ino…” he replied. “Well, what were you three up to?” He glanced at Sehun and Mirae. 

“We were just reading some books. Mirae noona found a book on some creatures” Sehun answered, pleased with himself. “We were hoping to track you down and find you ourselves but it seems that we don’t need to anymore now that you’re here, Professor” 

“Did you now?” Professor Jang smiled at Mirae. “Well, I am off to have a bite to eat. I have had a long day. I do want to see Junhong and the others, are they down at the lab?” He asked. 

Ino shook his head. “They’re training some of the recruits. There have been improvements lately.” He reported. 

Professor Jang looked impressed. “Well Ino. We have some catching up to do. Join me in the cafeteria” He said, and Ino immediately followed him out of the room. “So, what happened while I was away?” He asked. 

“Well, we spent our time rebuilding everything the goblins destroyed,” Ino gestured to the walls and the floor. “I don’t know why I’m surprised rebuilding took less time than I thought. The recruits helped out.” He explained. 

Professor Jang gave an approving nod. “Are the recruits doing alright?” He asked. 

Ino smiled and nodded in response. “They are. We’re all getting by. Taking some time improving our skills and the powers of the recruits. Junhong and the guys finished making the new suits.” He said. 

“New suits?” The professor raised a brow at him. 

“Yeah, the new suits. Yifan complained that the old ones were a little too bulky, so Junhong and the guys streamlined everything, made everything lighter” Ino smiled. 

“Did the goblins take anything valuable?” Professor Jang asked this time. 

Ino nodded. “They took the blood samples of the recruits. I don’t know why they would, but our guess is that the Prince is building himself an army, and he’s trying to find the diamond…” he trailed off. “Father...the diamond is safe...it remains guarded” He assured him. 

“Good. I did not tell them where it was hidden, and they will never know.” Professor Jang replied. “We should take a look at it, son” He said. 

“Don’t you want to visit the others? I’m sure they’d all want to see you” Ino asked him. 

“Well, I wouldn’t want to disturb them. They might get distracted” the Professor chuckled. 

“Are you tired? It’s pretty late, you might want to get some rest” Ino suggested. 

Professor Jang shook his head again. “I’m just fine, Ino. But let’s check on the diamond first before I turn in, okay?” 

~ 

Sehun went to the lab to visit Junhong. He was filling up some cartridges with an inky black solution. “Hey, I think I have an idea of where we can find wherever that Prince is,” He said. “What’s that?” 

Junhong removed his goggles and put the beaker down. “Don’t touch that,” He said right away before standing up. “It’s a type of chloroform. Knocks the target out for a day or so. I finally got that formula right.” 

“How do you test that then?” Sehun asked. 

Junhong pointed to the whiteboard. “There’s a component in this formula that seems to leave some blue residue. It turns black when activated, like those fishes that glow in the dark.” He said. “So when I spray some of this on there, we wait until it turns black, which is about three to five seconds” He answered. “So, you were saying?” 

His question made Sehun remember what he came down for. “On our last mission, when we inspected the site where some guy was found dead, we captured those goblins that were there,” He explained, pausing for a bit to think if he made any sense. “It was in this building I was in, I think the goblins came from some room, or some passage, but I know they came from there. We should inspect it again” 

Junhong nodded. “Now that you mention it, I feel so stupid for not going back to that. Alright, tell Ino hyung about this, we’ll get the vans ready.” 

Sehun was excited. “Agreed. Should we suit up?” He asked. 

“Suit up. Look for your name in those suits there. We made new ones. Go to Jongup for the gloves and Yongguk for the pistols.” Junhong pointed to the clothing racks at the side. 

“We have new suits?!” Sehun almost ran to the clothing racks and looked through the suits for his name. 

Junhong and the others watched him, grinning. “What can we say? We’re good at what we do?” 

Sehun managed to find his suit and immediately went somewhere to change. He looked at himself in awe when he came out, amazed at how the suit seemed to fit him like a glove. “You guys deserve all the awards, like all the awards” He was still in awe, feeling the material on his sleeves and the padding on his body. 

“Alright, alright. Go up to Ino hyung, tell him what you told me and we’ll get everything ready. Daehyun, bring the other suits to their rooms.” He nodded at Daehyun’s direction. Yongguk on the other hand, handed Sehun a pistol and placed the rest in a box. 

~ 

At the sushi place, Baekhyun, Jongdae, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, and Hyejung were piling plates upon plates of food. “I am so full, I think I’m going to be sick,” Hyejung sat back, putting her chopsticks down in defeat while the four men continued to eat. “It’s getting late, we should probably go back to the Center too.” She sighed. 

“It’s the last day of the eat all you can here, we may as well make the most out of it at least until midnight?” Chanyeol said, his mouth still full. 

“Hyejung’s right, I think we should get back,” Kyungsoo agreed, sitting back to drink some water. Jongdae went ahead to ask for the bill, taking a card out of his pocket. 

Hyejung noticed the card Jongdae had. “Wow, the professor must be loaded, huh? To give you a card like that?” She commented. “Do we all get one?” 

Baekhyun nodded. “Yeah we do, but we don’t use it a lot since we have pretty much everything in the Center. Honestly, I think the professor’s too nice for his own good.” He admitted. 

“That’s not exactly a bad thing either. He treats us like his own, which is nice.” Jongdae agreed. Just as he was about to hand in the card, there was a low beeping sound. It made them all pause to look for the source. More beeping sounds could be heard, and they all reached into their pockets and Hyejung looked in her bag. 

“Hey guys, I think it’s coming from this…” Baekhyun took out a small metal object, as did the others. It was oval and slim, but curved. There was a red blinking light on one side and what looked like a speaker and receiver in the other, with small buttons on the sides. Putting it up to his ear with a slight reluctance, Baekhyun pressed one of the buttons, and the beeping stopped. “H-hello…?” 

“Hey Baekhyun hyung, it’s me,” Junhong was on the other side of the call. It made Baekhyun’s eyes widen and the other four sit up, Jongdae handing in his card to the server standing by their table. “Good thing you guys figured that out. What you’re holding is a mini-communicator for Center-related emergencies.” He explained. 

“Okay, got it. What’s up?” Baekhyun asked. 

“We’re going to need the five of you to come back to the Center as soon as possible, we’re going to investigate the place where you guys captured those goblins.” Junhong replied. “Daehyun and Yongguk have already placed your new suits in your rooms. We’ll be boarding by the time you have arrived and suited up.” 

Nearly half an hour later, they had arrived and got dressed, saving their reactions to the new suits and weapons for later. “Board the bus everyone! When we get back, we all get a day off from training and work” Yongguk announced, counting them as they got in the bus. He was the last to go in, and Ino was standing by the garage, watching them and waving. 

The bus started moving, and they were on their way. “So, we’ve figured out a new way of locating each other. The lucky three locators will now be the lucky fifteen ones. We’ll group you all into teams of five. Blue team, red, and yellow,” Junhong explained while Himchan handed each of them a locator. “Seeing as there are four of you who are skilled fighters, one team will have two.” 

The ones with blue locators were Yifan, Mirae, Sehun, Chanyeol, and Yixing. The red locators were with Minseok, Zitao, Kyungsoo, Luhan, and Jinri while the yellow locators were with Baekhyun, Jongin, Junmyeon, Hyejung, and Jongdae. “Always remember to stay alert. Sehun, do you still remember where you went before?” Himchan glanced at the wind controller, who nodded. 

“Alright, we’ll see how we can split up when we get there.” Junmyeon suggested to which everyone had agreed. 

“I’m thinking that there should be a team in charge of securing the perimeter. Just in case there are...I don’t know, outside forces or something” Hyejung suggested with a shrug. Chanyeol nodded at her idea. 

“We should get this done at least before the sun comes up…” Luhan muttered, looking out the window. He realized that they were up the whole night. 

“Which is why we’ll get the rest of the day off when we’re done with our investigation” Minseok said, giving him a nudge. He covered his mouth to yawn as he sat back, blinking a few times to stay awake. 

They were back at the site moments later, and it was as damaged as when they left it. The sky was starting to lighten, and they all rushed towards the building, with Sehun leading the way. “Building 443, we’re here” He stopped in front. Yifan floated up a few floors until he stepped on the floor that was busted open. 

Hyejung created a portal that led to where Yifan was and Sehun and the others stepped inside, while Jongin teleported a few of them up as well. “Oh, so this is how it feels getting teleported,” Jinri held onto Jongdae’s wrist. “I can’t say I’ll try not to get used to this though.” She said, shaking the feeling off as she walked. 

“Baekhyun, Mirae, Zitao, Minseok, please lead the way. Sehun, show them where to go.” Yifan turned to them. The four of them nodded and led the whole group down the hall, where they saw, to their surprise, a lot of fresh blood stains and spatters on the walls and the carpeted floor. Sehun led them down to the door where he remembered the goblins that attacked him and Jongin came from. 

“I think some of us should check if there’s another way in from the outside, just so it’s not too crowded,” Jinri suggested, and Junmyeon agreed. 

“That might be best, yes. Luhan hyung, Yixing, Kyungsoo, Jongdae, and I will be outside. We have our locators and communicators so we can contact each other if something comes up. Got it?” Junmyeon asked them, and the whole crowd agreed. “Hyejung, if you don’t mind, may we please go downstairs?” 

Hyejung stopped to create a portal that led to the outside. “I think I better come with you. I agree that the place might get crowded. You guys can go ahead. Jongin, just pop in, yeah?” 

“Yeah” Jongin nodded, and followed the rest down the hall. 

Sehun led them towards the blood spattered door. The knob was dripping with an inky black substance and he cringed as he touched it, turning the knob and pushing the door open. “We’re going to need a sample of that,” Minseok suddenly suggested, and reached down to the heel of his boot and opened a little flap, revealing a compartment that contained a tiny glass bottle with a dropper. Noticing the amazed looks on Baekhyun and Mirae’s faces, he grinned sheepishly. “Junhong told us about the new features. We all have one, don’t worry.” He assured them before Baekhyun could say anything. 

Minseok opened the bottle and carefully scooped up some of the inky black liquid. Closing the lid, he placed it back into the heel of his boot and after hearing a little click, he closed it. Sehun pushed the door all the way back, revealing a tunnel. 

“Do you think we should go in?” Zitao asked nervously. 

“I’m pretty sure we have to if we want to find out where those creeps are hiding…” Baekhyun held onto his arm, just as nervous as he was. Sehun backed away to hold onto Zitao’s other arm. 

“If you three are so scared, you can join the others outside or something” Chanyeol noticed them, pushing forward and further into the tunnel. 

As they pressed on, Zitao and Baekhyun suddenly screamed in surprise, making the rest of them look. The rats were scurrying by their feet. “It’s just a rat, you two” Jongin popped up in front of the crowd. “We have to keep moving, or else we’ll be here until lunch” He nearly whined. 

They saw another door at the end of the tunnel, and they turned to each other. “What is this place? This is not an ordinary condominium…” Mirae muttered, staying close behind Minseok as he opened the door. The two of them stopped upon seeing what was behind it. 

“Hyung, what’s in there?” Baekhyun asked. 

“It’s an elevator. An old elevator.” Minseok said, stepping inside to take a look at the contraption. There were blood stains on the buttons. “Well...which way do we go?” He turned to the group. 

Chanyeol stepped forward to take a closer look. He noticed one was bloodier than the other. “Let’s go down.” He replied, and reached out with his gloved hand to press it. The doors suddenly opened. 

“I uh, I don’t think that elevator can carry all of us. Should we take turns?” Jinri suggested from the back. 

“That would be a good idea, yes.” Yifan agreed. “Well…Since the elevator carries about five, then the five of you first, then the rest of us will follow,” He glanced at Sehun, Minseok, Mirae, Zitao, and Baekhyun. 

“Okay, if we don’t make it down here, I’m going to seriously haunt the rest of you,” Baekhyun commented as they stepped inside. There were more blood stains and spatters on the floor and on the buttons. He shuddered at the sudden draft that came in, but he knew that meant there was something downstairs. 

They stopped to wave at the rest of the group before Mirae closed the doors and pressed the bloody button. It was slowly getting dark, and Baekhyun now served as their source of light. 

~ 

Hyejung, Junmyeon, Yixing, Luhan, Kyungsoo, and Jongdae were standing outside. It was quiet, and the bus stood nearby. “I wonder how they’re doing in there, hopefully nothing’s getting to them yet” Hyejung murmured, sitting on some cement blocks. 

“You know what I think? There are just too many of us,” Jongdae commented, playing with the currents coming out of one hand. “Maybe not everyone is needed out here?” 

“There’s strength in numbers, Jongdae. What if something happens to them in there that gets out here?” Junmyeon asked. 

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it? There are 15 of us, 17 including Junhong and Yongguk hyung” Jongdae explained. 

“Still, Ino hyung was fine with all of us coming here. We should probably try and focus on what we need to do here,” Kyungsoo reminded them. “There might be something” 

Just then, Yongguk came running to them. “I think the six of you should go back to the Center. Something’s happened.” He panted. 

The six recruits perked up and turned to him. “What happened?” Junmyeon asked. 

Yongguk could only shake his head. “Ino hyung...the Professor...the Prince is in the Center…” he managed to say. 

“What?!” They looked stunned. 

“What about them? They’re still down there!” Hyejung pointed to the building. 

“I’ll stay here with them, the six of you should go back there...Ino hyung is in trouble.” Junhong looked shaken and got down the bus. 

Yongguk went down to driving away, while Junhong rushed inside the building, sprinting up the stairs to find the rest of the group. 

“What’s happening to Ino hyung?” Junmyeon sat behind Yongguk. “What’s happening to the Professor?” 

Yongguk shook his head. “I don’t know, we just got a message from Himchan, saying that there’s some kind of disturbance happening at the Center again. He said to send for some of you, so we’ll just have to find out when we get there” he replied. 

“I have a feeling the Prince is coming after them. Like they know where the diamond is” Junmyeon muttered. 

Yongguk drove as fast as he could, and the sun had already risen by the time they arrived. The six recruits ran inside the Center, searching the different levels for a sign of Ino and the Professor. Yongguk had done the same, going straight down to the lab to check on Jongup and the others, who sent the message. 

Hyejung passed through various portals, until she found herself in the library. “Oppa? Professor? Oppa?” She looked around. The books were off the shelves and the rolls of maps were on the floor. “Oppa? Ino oppa?” She searched the corners. 

“Hyejung? What are you doing here, I thought you had gone on the mission?” Professor Jang suddenly appeared behind her. 

Hyejung breathed a sigh of relief. “I-I came here because I was told something happened...Is everything alright, professor? Even Ino oppa?” She asked. 

The professor smiled. “Ino’s had quite a day. He’s done all his work for now so he’s resting” He replied. 

Even though the professor’s words answered her questions, Hyejung couldn’t help but feel a little doubtful. She couldn’t help but feel that something happened but she didn’t know what. “Well, it looks like he has done quite a bit of work” She said, trying to play it cool. “I should probably clean up here” She turned to the piles of books on the floor. 

“Well, let me help you” Professor Jang proceeded to pick up a few books at a time, returning them to the shelves. Hyejung quietly watched him, that sinking feeling still remained. The professor seemed to be alright, but something didn’t seem to feel right at all. 

Meanwhile, Jongdae and Yongguk reached the lab, where they saw Daehyun, Himchan, Jongup, and Youngjae on the floor, very badly wounded and bordering on passing out. The tables and desks were trashed, and some of the equipment were destroyed. “What happened here?” Jongdae looked worried as he examined the place. 

Yongguk went over to Himchan and Jongup, who were sporting busted lips and blood from the corners of their mouth. “What happened to all of you?” 

“Goblins” Youngjae coughed up. “The professor isn’t who he seems…” He slurred.

“The professor?” Yongguk raised a brow. 

“Yes,” Himchan coughed up and Yongguk saw marks on his neck. He had been strangled and beaten down. “The man we see isn’t the professor…” 

“We tried to shoot, but he was too strong” Daehyun coughed, weakly holding up the gun in his hand. 

Jongdae went over to him and Youngjae. “The four of you need a lot of treatment. But are you saying that the professor is too strong?” 

Youngjae nodded. “He is not the professor. I think he’s the prince… He has Ino hyung hostage…” 

“If the prince is here…” Jongdae could feel the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end. “The others are in trouble.” 

“Where is the real professor? Did he tell you?” Yongguk asked the four of them, but no reply. He turned to Jongdae. “Please help me, Jongdae. Grab the bandages and the antiseptic over there, I’ll get the four of them to lie down. Grab the syringes and those bottles with the blue liquid.” He instructed, and Jongdae nearly sprinted to the other end of the lab, grabbing what he needed. 

~ 

The elevator stopped to the floor and the doors opened to an enormous torch-lit chamber. The five of them stepped out, letting the elevator go back up to the others. “The elevator goes down here…” Baekhyun muttered. 

“Oh my god” Zitao looked at the chamber in horror, and all of them suddenly covered their noses. 

“Now we know where the blood is coming from…” Mirae muttered. The more they went in, they saw dozens of goblin corpses on the floor. Some of them were carrying spears and swords. They pressed on, trying not to step on anything, not even the blood. 

They saw a bookshelf at the end of the chamber that was pushed aside and an open door next to it. “A secret passage?” Baekhyun now led the way, closely followed by Mirae and Minseok. Zitao stayed close to Sehun as they continued to pass. 

“Guys, there’s only one way down here” Sehun talked into his communicator. 

“Got it. We’re coming down, it’s getting dark on the way, huh,” Yifan answered on the other line. 

“Is Jongin unable to teleport down here?” Sehun asked. 

“I can’t teleport if I can’t picture where I’m going, I still need help in that area” Jongin was on the other line this time. 

The five of them continued walking down the hallway, still covering their noses at the smell of rotting corpses. “I’m getting claustrophobic, is there a way we can get out of here, fast?” Zitao said. 

“For us to do that, you could try and turn back the clock, will you?” Baekhyun muttered, side-eyeing him. “We are so going to miss the breakfast buffet at the Center…” 

“Not going to lie, seeing all this blood made me lose my appetite” Mirae cringed as they walked. 

They had approached the two big doors at the end of the hall. “You think we should get ourselves ready for whatever is in there?” Baekhyun asked them. Mirae didn’t answer, but instead withdrew and extended her staff in her hand, eyes glowing red. 

Minseok got ready as well, engulfing himself into ice while Baekhyun’s eyes started to glow as well, a hand poised over his gun. Sehun and Zitao positioned themselves on the two doors, ready to open. It was quiet on the other side, but that only meant that they had to be very alert. “Okay, on the count of three-” 

“Shouldn’t we wait for the others…?” Zitao asked them. 

“Whatever’s on the other side of this door might not care, they might try and catch us off guard” Mirae answered, spinning her staff in her hand. “Let’s get this over with, yeah? If we want to make the breakfast buffet…” 

Sehun and Zitao nodded nervously, and after a beat, slowly opened the doors. It looked like a court. The floors were made of marble, and a marble path was in the middle of what looked like two ponds. There weren’t any fish, but there were two chairs at the very end of the room. Minseok changed back to normal, and the glow in Baekhyun and Mirae’s eyes disappeared at what they saw. 

More bodies of goblins littered the room, and the five of them slowly entered. Some bodies were sliced in half, some were decapitated and dismembered. They covered their noses at the smell. “Someone was in here, how else would they all die…” Minseok muttered, while they avoided stepping on the corpses. 

“Those three bodies aren’t dressed like the others…” Mirae noticed the three corpses at the end, seated on what looked like marble thrones. They were dressed in long robes that were now stained with red instead of its true colors. She went over to them, and saw two gold diadems. “They must be royalty, these two, or those two” 

Sehun followed her and picked the headpieces up. “They must be the king and princess. The other one looks like the prince…” He observed. “The other one must be some kind of right-hand person or something. It doesn’t have a crown, it only has a gold medallion.” He looked back at the coronets again, and noticed that there were gems missing. “Whoever started killing all of them probably went after the jewels in their crowns or something, but who would just take the gems out when they could have the whole thing?” 

“Those gems must be very useful then. Unless…” Baekhyun trailed off, but his eyes widened. “What was the legend of the diamond again? It was cut into two or something but mysteriously made itself whole throughout the ages, right?” 

“Yeah, but the legend said it was cut into halves.” Minseok pointed out. 

Sehun suddenly had an idea. “Guys, what if the diamond was cut up and placed in these headpieces?” He asked. “The prince was trying to come after the diamond right? They probably knew and wouldn’t tell him” he deduced. 

“I think we should bring those back, see what Junhong and the guys could find.” Zitao agreed. 

Just then, Yifan, Jongin, Jinri, Chanyeol, and Junhong had turned up, covering their noses. “Whoa, what happened here?” Chanyeol stepped back. 

“Well, someone was here and decided to kill everyone. There’s also this too. Sehun, show them” Minseok told Sehun, and the wind controller brought the crowns over to Junhong. “There are gems missing from the headpiece. We think the diamond may have been placed in the crowns and probably disappeared to make itself whole.” He explained. 

Junhong brandished a ziploc bag from his pocket and Sehun placed the headpieces in. “Good. We’ll have to go back to Center and see what we can find. We have to hurry, the sun’s already up and,” He didn’t know if he could say it, as thinking about it seemed difficult enough to comprehend. 

“And what?” Jinri asked. “Is something wrong?” 

“Something’s happened at the Center. Yongguk hyung and the others are already there. Ino hyung’s in trouble and so is the professor” Junhong explained. 

“Then come on, let’s go back to the bus, get back there before anything else happens” Jongin agreed, tugging on Junhong’s sleeve. 

~ 

Back at the library, Hyejung couldn’t help but glance at the professor from time to time as she put the books back. “Professor?” She asked, maintaining her cool while bringing some books back to the shelf. She climbed up a ladder to reach the top level and placed some more books back. 

“Yes Hyejung?” Professor Jang looked over at her. 

“You don’t have a cane with you. Did you see a doctor to have your legs checked?” She asked casually. 

“Why yes. Yes I did. Just yesterday before I arrived, I had something injected in my knees.” the professor replied. 

“Oh,” Hyejung nodded. Something wasn’t right about the professor at all. “Um, do you like our new uniforms? Junhong designed these and they’re great for missions,” She said. 

“I do. What are the new features?” 

All of a sudden, Jongdae burst in the door. “Hyejung! The professor’s not who he seems, I-” 

In a flash, the professor threw the table towards Jongdae. Hyejung managed to throw a portal in front of Jongdae in time, and the table landed on the other side of the room. The professor suddenly jumped up the ladder and landed behind Hyejung, taking her gun and pointing it to her head. “I had a feeling something wasn’t right” she muttered. “Who are you?” 

The man behind her turned into the prince. Jongdae took his own gun out and pointed it at the goblin. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, human,” the prince hissed. “Shoot me and she dies, as will the others” 

“What do you mean, the other-” Jongdae figured it out. “It was a trap. You sent the others to die down there and for what?” 

An evil smile appeared on the prince’s lips. “All will be revealed.” He pressed his palm to Hyejung’s forehead and she fell to the ground unconscious, while the goblin took on her appearance and disappeared after creating a portal. 

~ 

Just as the prince had planned, as the group turned to leave the court, they heard a crackling sound behind them. Goblins broke through the walls from both sides of the court and sprung themselves at them. “Jongin, get Junhong out of here, now!” Yifan hovered and started shooting at the creatures but missed. 

“Hang on, Junhong” Jongin jumped over a corpse and grabbed hold of Junhong’s arm, the two of them disappearing in time before a goblin tried to slice them with its sword. 

Chanyeol and Minseok attacked the others with fire and ice, completely engulfed in their abilities. Jinri stood right behind Minseok as she fired a plasma blast with her fists, sending them flying across the room. Zitao sliced through a dozen with his sword and shot them all for good measure. One of them tackled Baekhyun to the floor, his head a few centimeters away from the water and the creature’s claws were at his throat. Baekhyun coughed and gagged. “You shouldn’t have come for me” He groaned, his eyes suddenly glowing. 

“And why is that?” 

“This is why” Baekhyun said, and what looked like a laser pierced through the goblin’s throat, decapitating it. He got up quickly, cringing in disgust with the blood that came out. “Disgusting!” 

“There’s too many of them!” Mirae said, her eyes glowing red while she hit a few more with her staff before kicking them away. She reached into her pockets, trying to see if she brought anything she could throw at them. She only brought a deck of cards. Mirae had been learning how to play blackjack for some time while she was training, and she had gotten the hang of being able to shuffle the cards in different ways. Mirae fanned some of her cards out and flung them in different directions in front of her. Every goblin that got hit by a card was sent flying several feet away from them. “We should go. Where’s Jongin?” She turned to them, shooting the rest of the goblins with her gun and kicking one in the face. 

Jongin suddenly appeared. “I’m here. We should go before more of them come at us.” 

“You guys go ahead, I’ll keep these things out.” Minseok created a thick wall of ice before backing away, Jinri making sure that the creatures were far away from them enough for Minseok to make it. Chanyeol melted the door knobs together to keep the doors shut and Minseok created another thick icy obstacle as they ran back to the elevator. “Everyone hold on to Jongin, we’ll take the elevator” Minseok looked over at them. 

Jinri, Yifan, Sehun, and Zitao held onto the teleporter’s arms, while Mirae, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Minseok had Jongin by the legs and shoulders. “Jongin, you can do it. Come on” Jinri reminded him. 

Jongin’s eyes were shut tight as he tapped into his power. With a loud groan, they disappeared, and found themselves outside the building, where Junhong was. It was already well into the day and all of them suffered some scratches on their faces and arms. “Is everyone here?” Junhong went up to them. 

Jongin soon passed out and Sehun and Chanyeol pulled him up. “He’s drained. He got all of us out of there” Chanyeol explained. 

“Let’s get out of here. The bus is nowhere to be found and I got a message from Yongguk. Himchan, Daehyun, Jongup, and Youngjae got involved in a little fight with the prince, disguised as the professor,” Junhong explained with an exasperated sigh. “Now I just found out that the prince got to Hyejung as well, did something to her. We have to go.”


End file.
